Frankfurt am Main, February 21, 2023 – Continuous transport of relief supplies for the earthquake victims: yesterday, Monday, the first dedicated freighter flight by SunExpress of the “We help together” initiative took off for Antalya with around ten tons of urgently needed relief supplies. Today, Tuesday, another Boeing 737-800 of the joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines will take off for Turkey loaded exclusively with relief supplies. Last Friday, two Boeing 777 freighters operated by Lufthansa Cargo had already transported relief supplies, including blankets, hygiene articles and food, to the affected region as part of the airlift.

SunExpress had brought together leading logistics experts Lufthansa Cargo, DPD, FIEGE, time:matters and CB Customs Broker GmbH to maintain an air bridge from Germany to the affected region in the coming weeks. More than 1,000 tons of relief supplies are to be transported to the affected region as part of the “We help together” initiative. With this joint initiative, the companies involved also want to give private donors the opportunity to help quickly and easily. Thus, since Monday, 20.02.2023, aid packages with urgently needed goods can be handed in at the 7,500 DPD parcel stores. At the current time, over 1000 donation packages have already been collected.

“The need for help of the people in the earthquake region is still enormous, – just like the willingness to help within the population in Germany. With our airlift, we are reliably channeling people’s generous donations and ensuring a continuous supply of relief goods,” said SunExpress CEO Max Kownatzki. “I would like to thank all those involved who made it possible for our joint initiative to get off the ground at such short notice. This will enable us to provide uncomplicated and rapid assistance on the ground over the coming weeks.”

The airline will be operating cargo-only flights from Frankfurt to Antalya on Mondays and Tuesdays in the coming weeks under flight number XQ8881. SunExpress began operating free relief and rescue flights immediately after the devastating earthquakes, bringing more than 6,000 rescue workers as well as medical personnel and about 200 tons of cargo to the earthquake region on nearly 300 flights so far, and evacuating about 14,000 people from the affected areas.

All information about the initiative, supporters and needed relief supplies can be found on the website www.wir-helfen-gemeinsam.de.