Pegasus Airlines

Pegasus Airlines
IATA
PC		 ICAO
PGT		 Callsign
SUNTURK
Founded 1990
Hubs
Focus cities
Frequent-flyer program Pegasus Plus
Subsidiaries
Fleet size 59
Destinations 97
Company slogan We Didn't Start Aviation In Turkey, But We Transformed It.
Parent company ESAS Holding
Headquarters Istanbul, Turkey
Key people
  • Ali Sabanci (Chairman)
  • Sertac Haybat (General Manager)
Revenue Increase 2.4 billion TRY (2013)[1]
Website www.flypgs.com

Pegasus Airlines (Turkish: Pegasus Hava Taşımacılığı A.Ş.) is a low-cost airline headquartered in the Kurtköy area of Pendik, Istanbul, Turkey.[2] Formerly a charter airline in partnership with Aer Lingus, Pegasus is now completely controlled by Esas Holding.

History

A Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 landing at Bristol Airport in the old livery

On 1 December 1989 two businesses, Net and Silkar, partnered with Aer Lingus to create an inclusive tour charter airline called Pegasus Airlines and services were inaugurated on 15 April 1990 with two Boeing 737-400s. However, four months after the launch, Iraq invaded Kuwait and the seven month occupation that followed had a serious effect on Turkish tourism.[3]

By 1992, tourists began returning to the country and Pegasus grew with the acquisition of a third 737-400. The airline leased a further two Airbus A320s to meet the summer demand.[3]

After two positive years, Aer Lingus and Net sold their shares in the company in 1994 to Istanbul based Yapi Kreditbank, making Pegasus a purely Turkish company.[3]

On 4 September 1997, Pegasus placed an order for one 737-400 and one 737-800 from Boeing Commercial Airplanes making it the first Turkish carrier to place an order for the Boeing 737 Next Generation. The airline also signed lease agreements for a further 10 737-800s from the ILFC.[3]

In January 2005, ESAS Holdings purchased Pegasus Airlines and placed Ali Sabanci as the chairman. Two months later, he changed the airline from a Charter airline, to a Low-Cost airline. In November 2005, Pegasus placed an order for 12 new 737-800s from Boeing which was backed up with an order for a further 12 737-800s in November 2008. The latter order has flexibility in it as the orders can be changed to the 149-seat 737-700 or the 215-seat 737-900 depending on market demand.[3]

In 2007, Pegasus carried more passengers in Turkey than any other private airline. In 2008, it carried a total of 4.4 million passengers.[4] In 2013 the passenger traffic grew even further to 16.8 million passengers carried.[1]

In 2012, Pegasus Airlines, the second largest airline in Turkey, has signed for up to 100 A320neo Family aircraft (57 A320neo and 18 A321neo models), of which 75 are firm orders. Pegasus becomes a new Airbus customer and the first Turkish airline to order the A320neo. This was the largest single commercial aircraft order ever placed by an airline in Turkey at that time, and was announced on December 18, 2012 at a ceremony attended by Binali Yıldırım, the Turkish Minister of Transport.[5]

In June 2012, Pegasus Airlines bought 49% of the Kyrgyz air company Air Manas. 22 March 2013 the air company had operated its first flight under the brand name Pegasus Asia.[6]

The company offered 34.5% of its shares of stock to the public. The shares began to be traded at the Borsa Istanbul as BİST: PGSUS on 26 April 2013.[7]

In Greek mythology, Pegasus (Greek: Πήγασος, Pégasos, 'strong') was a winged horse sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa.

Destinations

A Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 at Zurich International Airport in the current livery.

Codeshare agreements

Fleet

As of February 2015, the Pegasus Airlines fleet consists the following aircraft, with an average age of 4.9 years:[9][10]

Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
Airbus A320-200 5 — 180 Leased until A320neo delivery.
Airbus A320neo — 57[11] 180 Deliveries 2015 - 2016
Airbus A321neo — 18[11] 220 Deliveries 2015 - 2016
Boeing 737-800 54 — 189 7 operating for Izair
Total 59 75

Pegasus Airlines formerly operated three Boeing 737-400 which were introduced in 2006. The last of the three aircraft was retired in 2012, leaving the Pegasus Airlines fleet with 59 active aircraft including Boeing 737-800s and Airbus A320s

Cabin

Pegasus Airlines operates a one-class interior configuration on all of their aircraft. A "Flying Cafe" is available to all passengers whereby hot meals are provided for an additional charge. Pegasus is also considering installing In-Flight-Entertainment and charging for headphones (currently, only overhead screens are available on selected 737-800s and they only display a computer-generated map showing the flight's progress).[3]

Training and Maintenance

Unlike most low-cost carriers, Pegasus runs its own flight crew training centre and Maintenance organisation, Pegasus Technic. Both centres are fully licensed and are used to train new staff members both on the ground and in the air.[3][12]

Incidents and accidents

On 10 March 2010, Pegasus Airlines Flight 361, an Airbus A319 operated by IZair on a ferry flight, made an emergency landing at Frankfurt Airport, Germany after a malfunction in the nose gear. The flight landed safely but blew both front nose gear tires. The airport closed runway 07R/25L for 3 hours to allow recovery.[13] The nose gear suffered the same problem as JetBlue Flight 292.

On 7 February 2014, Pegasus Airlines Flight 751, a Boeing 737, was the victim of an attempted hijacking by a Ukrainian passenger Artem Kozlov[14] who claimed he had a bomb on board. The passenger demanded to be flown to Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, where the Opening Ceremony was taking place. The plane landed safely in Istanbul.[15]

Sponsorships

Pegasus Airlines is one of the official sponsors of Türk Telekom Arena, newly built stadium for Turkish Club Galatasaray SK.[16]

Awards

Pegasus Airlines was named the cheapest European low cost airlines in research held in October 2013.[17][18] and in June 2014 [19]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pegasus Increased Gross Profit By 41 Per Cent In 2013
  2. ↑ "Headquarters." Pegasus Airlines. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 "Winged Horses over Istanbul" - Airliner World, December 2008
  4. ↑ [sabanciuniv.edu http://www.sabanciuniv.edu/eng/?medya/bulten/bulten_detay.php?ContentID=71]
  5. ↑ Pegasus selects up to 100 A320neo Family Aircraft Airbus. 18 December 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  6. ↑ History
  7. ↑ "Pegasus Hava Yolları işlem görmeye başladı". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 26 April 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  8. ↑ "KLM and Pegasus sign Code Share agreement". Pegasus Airlines. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  9. ↑ Fleet Information Pegasus Airlines
  10. ↑ Pegasus Airlines Fleet ch-aviation.ch
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Airbus A320 Neo Family Firm Orders". Airbus. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  12. ↑ Pegasus flight academy Pegasus.
  13. ↑ "Incident: Izmir Airlines A319 at Frankfurt on Mar 10th 2010, blew nose gear tyres on landing". Avherald.com. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  14. ↑ Hijack attempter arrested by court
  15. ↑ Gul Tuysuz; Michael Martinez (7 February 2014). "Official: Plane lands in Turkey after bomb threat, passenger wants to land in Sochi".
  16. ↑ Levent Tüzemen. (24 May 2010). Stat Galatasaray'ı uçuracak Sabah. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  17. ↑ Ryanair: not the cheapest airline? The Telegraph
  18. ↑ Battle of the low-cost airlines: is Ryanair the cheapest? Which Airline. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  19. ↑ Battle of the low-cost airlines: Ryanair, AirAsia or tigerair? None of them in 2014! Which Airline. Retrieved 16 June 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pegasus Airlines.