Pegasus captures 24 percent of local market

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Pegasus Board Director Sabancı says airline is fastest growing in Europe.

Pegasus Airlines Executive Board Director Ali Sabancı announced that the airline had captured 24 percent of the domestic market share, and that it would soon release investment plans for the 2016-2024 period, according to daily Milliyet.

“With this new program we will pressure the sector,” he said, explaining that with a 3.2 billion dollar investment they had achieved a current fleet of 30 planes, the youngest in Turkey.

Sabancı said that in October Pegasus would commence flights to both the Aegean province of İzmir, and that it had already begun a service to the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa. Only one airline was previously flying to Şanlıurfa, and the price of a round trip ticket was roughly 229 Turkish Liras. When Pegasus entered the market, prices dropped to 149 liras, and now Pegasus will bring down the price to 78 liras, said Sabancı. “There is also a lot of demand for the Antalya route and in a short amount of time we will begin flying there as well,” added Sabancı.

Sabancı noted that Pegasus had carried 32.8 million passengers in six years.

“We became the fastest growing airline in Europe in 2011 capturing 24 percent of the domestic market and ten percent of the international market,” said Sabancı.