By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) – SunExpress, a joint venture of flag carrier Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, has carried nearly 30,000 tourists to assist in repatriation efforts since flight bans were put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
"In line with our commitment to our passengers, we carried out 180 special flights departing from the Aegean province of Izmir and the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, and approximately 30,000 citizens of the banned countries have reached their homes between March 13 and 22," Deputy CEO Ahmet Caliskan said in a statement on Monday.
The Antalya-based company suspended its flights from Turkey to Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Austria, the U.K., Switzerland and Ireland until April 17 in line with measures taken by Turkish authorities to protect public health against coronavirus outbreak.
Caliskan said the company continued its domestic flights from Antalya to eight cities in Turkey and from Izmir to 12 cities.
"As the backbone of Turkish tourism transportation and as an airline building an air bridge between Turkey and Europe, we will continue to increase our contribution to Turkish tourism," he stressed.
Pointing to SunExpress's measures against the pandemic, Caliskan said disinfection procedures, approved by international authorities, were regularly carried out on all aircraft in its fleet.
"All our aircraft have the High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtering system which is also used in the operating rooms of hospitals," he added.
The company is committed to taking all necessary precautions for the safety and well-being of the passengers and crew, Caliskan noted.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the coronavirus has infected over 340,000 worldwide and killed over 14,700, while over 89,000 have recovered.
The virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December and has since spread across the world restricting international travel.
