The troubled Egyptian aviation market could be set for a resurgence in 2017, according to a network planning expert.

Maximillian Gorski, Network Planning Analyst at SunExpress, said that he expects the country’s market to rebound “not to its old strength, but very close”.

“Egypt looks more stable at the moment, so we expect a recovery in 2017,” he said.

Political instability and security concerns, coupled with air disasters in the country, have left the tourism market flat in recent years.

Gorksi was speaking to Routesonline in the wake of two new route agreements, between Ankara Esenboga Airport and Antalya in SunExpress’ home country Turkey, linking with Brussels Airport and Billund Airport respectively.

The new Brussels link-up was discussed at Routes events before being finalised at a meeting with the airport at World Routes 2016, held in Chengdu, China.

And Gorski explained the reasoning behind the new service. “The route was unserved in the recent years but the O&D traffic was still there,” he said. “We see a huge potential for VFR-traffic to connect two major cities.”

However, despite optimism surrounding the new service, Gorski warned that the Turkish aviation market could still be set for another “challenging year in 2017,” warned Gorski.

“But we are convinced we can deal with it successfully,” he said. “Especially because our very low cost structure allows us to survive hard times.”

This confidence is reflected in the airline’s order for more 737-800s and MAX aircraft, and Gorski explained that SunExpress is due to take delivery in 2019.

“The MAX will definitely increase our network opportunities due to its better performance,” he added.

INSIGHT - A closer look at the operations of SunExpress and sister venture SunExpress Deutschland this decade shows that its Germany - Turkey operations remain the main axis of its activities, accounting for 84.4 per cent of its total capacity last year, according to schedule data from OAG. But that is down from a 90.0 per cent share at the start of the decade as the carriers have expanded into new markets.

After growing its capacity out of Turkey to a record level of over 2.6 million seats in 2015, the economic situation and political challenges in the country resulted in its offer contracting 11.2 per cent in 2016 as the likes of Spain, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Morocco benefitted from redeployment of capacity. Egypt, which had grown to its fifth largest country market in 2012, declined to its ninth largest in 2016 after year-on-year capacity declines of -8.7 per cent and -38.4 per cent in 2015 and 2016, respectively.