All airlines should race ‘equally’

Sefer LEVENT - BARCELONA/Hürriyet

Pegasus General Manager Aybat says they bid for Moscow flights.

Turkish private carrier Pegasus Airlines, which began Barcelona trips last week, aims to increase its number of global destinations, said General Manager Sertaç Aybat, noting that some routes should no longer be exclusive to Turkish Airlines (THY).

Aybat said the Istanbul-Moscow route, which has been dominated by Russia’s Aeroflot and THY, had been opened to new airlines within a recent deal signed between Turkey and Russia. He said Pegasus was bidding to have direct flights to Moscow.

The general manager said they had applied for the new frequencies given by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. “We hope these frequencies will not given to THY again. The frequencies for Kiev flights were given to Atlas Jet, not to us, with the excuse of making all flights from Atatürk Airport [on the European side of Istanbul]. When Atlas did not fly to Kiev, the frequencies were given to THY. Now, THY makes these flights from Sabiha Gökçen Airport [on the Asian side],” Aybat said. THY has public support, he said, adding that protectionism in aviation belonged to the 1980s and it could be ended by the selling THY’s public shares.

Pegasus bought a 49 percent stake of Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Air last year. According to the regulation, only THY is able to fly to the East Far. Aybat said Pegasus was not allowed to make flights to Bishkek and they bought an airline company in Kyrgyzstan.