Pegasus Airlines
Encyclopedia
Pegasus Airlines is a low-cost airline headquartered in the Halkalı area of Küçükçekmece
Küçükçekmece
Küçükçekmece is a large, crowded suburb on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey 23 km out of the city, beyond Atatürk Airport. The population of the area reaches 600,000. This area covers 118 km².-Location:...

, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. Formerly a charter airline in partnership with Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus Group Plc is the flag carrier of Ireland. It operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft serving Europe and North America. It is Ireland's oldest extant airline, and its second largest after low-cost rival Ryanair...

, Pegasus is now completely controlled by Esas Holding.

History

On 1 December 1989 two businesses, Net and Silkar, partnered with Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus Group Plc is the flag carrier of Ireland. It operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft serving Europe and North America. It is Ireland's oldest extant airline, and its second largest after low-cost rival Ryanair...

 to create an inclusive tour charter airline called Pegasus Airlines and services were inaugurated on 15 April 1990 with two Boeing 737-400
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...

s. However, four months after the launch, Iraq invaded Kuwait and the seven month occupation that followed had a serious effect on Turkish tourism.

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 A320
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...

s to meet the summer demand.

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.

On 4 September 1997, Pegasus placed an order for one 737-400 and one 737-800 from Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Boeing Commercial Airplanes designs, assembles, markets and sells large commercial jet aircraft and provides product-related maintenance and training to customers worldwide...

 making it the first Turkish carrier to place an order for the Boeing 737 Next Generation
Boeing 737 Next Generation
The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as Boeing 737NG, is the name given to the -600/-700/-800/-900 series of the Boeing 737 after the introduction of the -300/-400/-500 Classic series. They are short- to medium-range, narrow-body jet airliners...

. The airline also signed lease agreements for a further 10 737-800s from the ILFC.

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.

In 2007, Pegasus carried more passengers in Turkey than any other private airline. In 2008, it carried a total of 4.4 million passengers.

In Greek mythology, Pegasus
Pegasus
Pegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing...

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

Destinations

Pegasus Airlines has charter and scheduled services to 70 airports in Europe and Asia.

Fleet

As of June 2011, the Pegasus Airlines fleet consists the following aircraft with an average age of 4.2 years:
Pegasus Airlines fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers
Boeing 737-400 2 0 170
Boeing 737-500 3 0 131
Boeing 737-800 31 8 189
Total 36 8


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
In-flight Entertainment
In-flight entertainment refers to the entertainment available to aircraft passengers during a flight. In 1936, the airship Hindenburg offered passengers a piano, lounge, dining room, smoking room, and bar during the 2½ day flight between Europe and America...

 and charging for headphones (currently, only overhead screens are available on selected 737-800s and they only show a computer-generated map showing the flights progress).

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.

Incidents and accidents

  • On 10 March 2010, Pegasus Airlines Flight 361, an Airbus A319 operated by IZair
    Izair
    IZair is an airline headquartered on the grounds of Adnan Menderes Airport in Gaziemir, Turkey. It operates scheduled and charter, international and domestic, passenger services.All IZair flights are marketed by Pegasus Airlines....

     on a ferry flight, made an emergency landing at Frankfurt Airport
    Frankfurt Airport
    Frankfurt Airport may refer to:Airports of Frankfurt, Germany:*Frankfurt Airport , the largest airport in Germany*Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport, a general aviation airport*Frankfurt-Hahn Airport , a converted U.S...

     in Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

     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. The nose gear suffered the same problem as JetBlue Flight 292.

Sponsorships

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

External links

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