Turkish leisure specialist Onur Air (8Q, Istanbul New) restarted operations under the code of its subsidiary Holiday Europe (5Q, Sofia) on July 1, 2020, although the Bulgarian carrier's in-house aircraft remain in storage, ch-aviation research has revealed.
According to Radarbox24 ADS-B data, Onur Air is currently operating one of its A321-100s, one A321-200, and one A321-200N under Holiday Europe's code on flights between Germany and Greece.
Onur Air set up Holiday Europe last year to benefit from its Bulgarian subsidiary's EU status including routes both within the European Union and beyond which it could not operate using its Turkish Air Operator's Certificate. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Holiday Europe's in-house fleet consists of three A321-200s of which only one - ex-Onur Air LZ-HEA (msn 811) - entered into service prior to the pandemic, while the other two units are still undergoing pre-delivery maintenance. However, Holiday Europe's in-house aircraft remain inactive for the time being.
Onur Air itself continues to operate a limited number of flights within Turkey and to countries in the Middle East.
While Turkey reopened its borders in June, the EU did not include the country on the "safe to travel" list published in early July. As such, while tourists from the EU can enter Turkey, they would be subject to quarantine in most of the bloc's countries upon return. Due to traffic right limitations, Onur Air can only fly from the EU to Turkey under its own code.