SunExpress Cabin Crew

SunExpress occupies a unique corner of Turkish aviation: a 50/50 joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, headquartered in Antalya and specialized in leisure flying between Türkiye's coastal resorts and dozens of European cities, above all in Germany. The all-737 fleet of around 85 aircraft (with a large 737 MAX order arriving) serves roughly 90 destinations, and the airline has repeatedly been named the world's best leisure airline by Skytrax.

For crew, the joint-venture DNA delivers real advantages: European-influenced work standards, staff-travel access across both parent networks, and a pay structure that crew report benefits from euro-linked components — a meaningful hedge in an inflationary lira environment. Bases in Antalya and Izmir mean Mediterranean and Aegean coastal living at costs far below Istanbul, with the beach a genuine part of daily life rather than a holiday fantasy.

The trade-off is seasonality. Summer is relentless — dense multi-sector days shuttling holidaymakers between Germany and the coast, with monthly flying hours near the legal ceiling — while winter brings thinner rosters and quieter months. New crew join on seasonal or fixed-term contracts more often than at the flag carriers, and career ceilings are lower simply because the airline is mid-sized. But as a lifestyle-plus-experience proposition — coastal living, European standards, a respected brand on the CV — SunExpress is one of Türkiye's best-kept crew secrets.