Sunweb Group and Transavia have strengthened their cooperation by signing a contract for a substantial number of seats for Sunweb holidays in the coming summer period. In addition, they are working on the development to set up a corona-free travel corridor from Schiphol Airport to Crete. The developments surrounding the vaccines and also the great desire of Dutch people to go on holiday again as soon as possible give both parties confidence that this summer travel will be possible again.

The corona-free travel corridor, to Crete in first instance, consists of a package holiday from Sunweb that involves flying with Transavia. During the holiday, travelers will be tested for the virus several times. Travelers also intend to stay mainly at their own resort where, of course, great attention is paid to distance and hygiene. Conversations with government and partners about the corona-free travel corridor are ongoing.

Both companies are confident that they can deliver beautiful holidays to their customers again this summer season and symbolize this confidence by letting a kite up. In addition to the purchase of a substantial number of seats per year, the success of the cooperation is mainly due to the total product that both companies can offer together. Particularly at this time, both parties believe that positivity and perspective are needed after a long period when hardly anything was possible and travel was often seen in a negative light because of corona. A corona-free corridor is the first step in that direction.

Mattijs ten Brink, CEO of Sunweb Group: ‘In a market that is in full swing, we are proud that our cooperation with Transavia, which has been successful for more than 20 years, offers Dutch holidaymakers the opportunity to discover beautiful destinations throughout Europe. We believe that everyone deserves a great holiday. We know how important it is to take the time to recharge, unwind and put everyday life on pause,’ said ten Brink.

Marcel de Nooijer, CEO Transavia: ‘Our partners are important to us, together we can give a positive turn to this challenging period. For us, this kite is a symbol for starting to fly again soon, moreover this kite reaches higher with more headwind. We are therefore pleased that Sunweb Group has expressed its confidence in both the recovery of the travel sector as well as in our airline. We see that there is an enormous craving for travel. Passengers can’t wait to discover beautiful destinations again and to look forward to them together with their family or friends. This is also shown in research that we recently completed. Besides being able to embrace each other again, traveling is high on the wish list. It goes without saying that safe travel is an important condition, which is why we pay a lot of extra attention to this aspect.’

Throughout the sector, safe travel is a top priority, and both parties are looking together how to further increase the safety around travel and the possibilities.These include more intensive testing and also continuing to call on the government for uniform European regulations. This will avoid ambiguities for passengers and prevent people from travelling via other countries. According to Transavia and Sunweb Group, this will benefit nobody, neither the traveler nor the Dutch travel sector.The call from both CEOs, is therefore to work together, throughout the industry, to ensure that we can once again offer our travelers the perspective of a holiday or other trip as soon as possible. This travel corridor to Crete will be a first beautiful and hopeful step in that direction.