
Caught stealing in reception by Pegasus Airlines’ CEO. anna.aero’s Publisher Paul Hogan always likes to leave an airline headquarters with a memento of his visit. He also came away with a list of growth statistics which would scare the pants off many airline CEOs. But then this is Turkey – where everything is growing fast.
[h=2]Off the chart levels of growth[/h]Pegasus has been around since the late 1980s, when the carrier started life as charter airline. However, the step-change in its growth came in 2005 when the airline adopted the low-cost business model and it chose the little known secondary airport of Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen as its new hub (now primarily due to Pegasus’ growth, it is one the world’s fastest growing airports). Despite the airline’s booming levels of activity, it has managed to maintain load factors, with 2013 annual figures of 78.3% being improved upon in Q1 2014, increasing to 78.7%.

Source: Flightglobal.
[h=2]Sabiha Gökçen commands 40% of flight[/h]Unsurprisingly, the airline’s main hub at Sabiha Gökçen dominates the airline’s flying programme, with nearly 40% of flights emanating from the equally fast-growing Istanbul airport. In the last 12 months, Pegasus’ hub has strengthened in terms of its importance to the airline, gaining an extra 2.4 percentage points in that period. Total flights for the carrier have grown by 15%.

Source: Innovata / Diio Mi w/c 1 August.
[h=2]Dalaman-Sabiha Gökçen is fastest growing route[/h]Given the airline’s more or less homogenous fleet (it operates 50 737-800/400s and now four A320s — Source: Planespotters.net), Pegasus’ annual seat growth is also up by 15% (as it was with its flights). The fastest-growing city pair within its network is that of Dalaman to Sabiha Gökçen, which has witnessed a 37% spike in capacity in the last year. The airline has added nearly 2,500 weekly seats on this domestic route. The biggest international route is #16, from its home hub to Tel Aviv.

Source: Innovata / Diio Mi w/c 1 August. SAW = Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen; IST = Istanbul Ataturk.
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