Turkiye’s leading low-cost airline Pegasus will implement its expansion strategy in the Balkans in 2023.
Following the previously announced new flights to Zagreb, Pristina, Skopje and Sarajevo, the company is now adding Podgorica to its route.
Pegasus, which will add two new routes from Ankara and Izmir to Podgorica in February, is expanding its service via Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen with these new lines.
Onur Dedekoylu, Deputy General Manager of Pegasus Airlines, said in his statement: “We are moving towards constantly improving and growing our network. We aim to increase point-to-point traffic towards Turkiye, but we also plan to increase our transfer traffic by taking advantage of our geographical location. We are positioning ourselves as a network low-cost airline. Our difference from the low-cost airline model is that we do transit business. As Turkiye is at the intersection of Asia, North Africa and Europe, approximately 20% of our ASKs (Available Seat Kilometers) are in Turkiye and the remaining 80% are in international operations.”
WILL REACH A CAPACITY OF 700,000 SEATS
In the next summer season, Pegasus will operate fourteen flights a week to Skopje, thirteen weekly flights to Sarajevo, twelve weekly flights to Podgorica, eleven weekly flights to Pristina, four weekly flights to Belgrade and twice weekly flights to Zagreb. In the former Yugoslavia market, Pegasus Airlines will increase the number of flights in the summer season by 42.1% compared to 2023 and the capacity by 45.3%, reaching almost 700,000 seat capacity.
Dedekoylu said, “There is demand. The post-pandemic period is called ‘revenge travel’, but in fact we are faced with a strong, sustainable demand. Despite all the difficulties, inflation and intense competition from other Turkish carriers such as Turkish Airlines and AnadoluJet, passenger demand is there. “Our yields are strong, already 26 euros higher per passenger than in 2019.”
Source: Patronlardunyasi / Prepared by Irem Yildiz