LUXE Serendipity magazine

By Donna Richardson

East Midlands Airport is still busy welcoming customers for this year’s summer
season – but next summer is shaping up to be bigger and better still, with new
destinations on offer. One major change is a brand new airline which will start operating from East Midlands for the first time from next Easter.

SunExpress will be flying to Antalya, one of Türkiye’s top holiday destinations, up to three times a week through to October. Booking is already open for flights in 2026 with SunExpress – a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines – which after strong growth in Germany will be operating from 14 airports in the UK and Ireland by next summer.

Meanwhile for summer 2026 Jet2 has added seven new destinations, bringing the total number of routes it serves from East Midlands Airport to 43 and offering greater holiday options in central Europe and northern Africa. The new routes on sale for next summer are Agadir (Morocco), Costa de Almeria (Spain), Preveza, Thessaloniki and Chania (Greece), and Pula and Split (Croatia). Jet2 have also added extra flightsand holidays for Jersey, with new Saturday services through to October, while the Spanish city of Murcia, added for summer 2025, is available as a city break all year round, making it another choice for next summer.

Also new for summer next year are flights to the popular Egyptian destination of Sharm El Sheikh, after TUI announced it was reintroducing the route following strong customer demand.

The route was last operated during Summer 2023 and will operate again twice-weekly from next Easter. This follows TUI’s introduction this summer of brand new destination Boa Vista in Cape Verde, along with Burgas on Bulgaria’s coastline, available again next year.

East Midlands Airport’s Customer Services and Planning Director Mike Grimes said: “We are so looking forward to summer 2026 – it’s going to be great to welcome SunExpress for the first time and to be able to offer even more destinations to our customers.
“We’re always looking at ways to improve the choice and experience for customers and these new routes, along with ongoing improvements in the terminal, mean that summer 2026 is shaping up to be bigger and better than ever.”