Turkish low cost carrier Pegasus Airlines is introducing six new routes to markets within the former Yugoslavia next year, with Podgorica being the latest to see the addition of new flights. Complementing the previously announced new routes to Zagreb, Pristina, Skopje and Sarajevo, the airline will add two new destinations to Podgorica starting in February, from Ankara and Izmir, joining its existing service from Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen. The development comes less than a year after the airline gained regulatory approval to commence flights to Montenegro. Regulatory issues, governed by strict bilateral agreements that Turkey has with countries in the region, including individual air service agreements with each member state within the European Union, are still preventing the airline from growing in many regional markets.
| Route | Launch date |
|---|---|
| Istanbul SAW - Zagreb | 18.01.2024 |
| Izmir - Podgorica | 01.02.2024 |
| Ankara - Podgorica | 05.02.2024 |
| Antalya - Pristina | 01.06.2024 |
| Antalya - Skopje | 02.06.2024 |
| Antalya - Sarajevo | 03.06.2024 |
Pegasus Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer, Onur Dedekoylu, recently said, “We are continuously developing and growing this network. We aim to increase point-to-point traffic going into Turkey but also to our transit traffic, to take advantage of our geographical location. We call ourselves a network low cost airline”. He added, “The one way that we differ from the typical low cost airline model is that we do transit business. That’s because we are based in Turkey, which is located at the crossroads of Asia, North Africa, and Europe. Around 20% of our ASKs [available seat kilometres] are in Turkey and the other 80% is international operations”.
As it currently stands, next summer season, Pegasus Airlines will operate up to fourteen weekly flights to Skopje, thirteen weekly to Sarajevo, twelve weekly to Podgorica, up to eleven weekly to Pristina, four weekly to Belgrade and two weekly to Zagreb. Overall, within the former Yugoslav markets, Pegasus Airlines will grow its number of flights during the upcoming summer season by 42.1% compared to 2023, while capacity will increase by 45.3% to almost 700.000 seats. “The demand is there. It’s not the so-called post-pandemic ‘revenge travel’ that we’re seeing, but rather strong, sustainable demand. This is despite all the challenges, inflation, and strong competition from other Turkish carriers, such as Turkish Airlines and AnadoluJet. Passenger demand is there. Our yields are strong, already 26 euros per passenger higher than in 2019”, Mr Dedekoylu noted.
Impressive. I always find it interesting how these Turkish carriers put tickets on sale just a month before the flights start.
ReplyDeleteBig market, big interest in Montenegro flights.
DeleteAnд no visas for Turks to majority of Balkans.
DeleteIt's not about Montenegro flights. They do this constantly. Anadoluejt scheduled the newly launched SAW-Belgrade flights just 2 weeks before it started, Pegasus has scheduled Zagreb just a month before the start date...
DeleteShame they can't expend more because of bureaucracy.
ReplyDeleteWhy Turkey is not part of European Open sky agreement? Is it their political decision, or EU didn't want it for some reason?
DeleteEU didn't want it. Never even considered the possibility of having it in the single sky.
Deletethe bureaucracy is on the turkish side.
DeleteWell the EU open sky has not happened because of political reasons. But it is true that Turkish bureaucracy is notoriously slow. It took them 10 years for their parliament to ratify the Serbia bilateral and 14 years to ratify the Croatian one!
DeleteWill they ever come to Ljubljana??
ReplyDeleteImo next will be LJU maybe also for summer 2024
DeleteBravo Fraport!
Delete@9.05 unless there is some regulatory issue, which is possible.
DeleteWhy are they avoiding Lj? Flights from Zagreb are packed with Slovenes.
Delete^You got it all wrong. There are no Slovenes in ZAG. Nobody uses ZAG except for Croats who love to travel. Even in LJU 50% of traffic, if not more, are Croats. Analitičar told me.
Delete@11:14 analitičar fooled you.
DeleteZagreb is much bigger than Ljubljana and Croats travel as well.
DeleteGiven some claims here, one would think Slovenia had a population of 20 million instead of just 2.
DeleteClaims by anons clearly unfamiliar with either Slovenia or Zagreb.
That being said, the more Slovenes in Zagreb, the better but also, Slovenia is absolutely gorgeous and deserves way more tourists and better air connectivity with the rest of Europe.
So many new flights from Turkey next year, not just from Pegasus
ReplyDeleteIt's just that the interest is getting bigger and bigger. These flights boasted charters in the past.
Deletetrue
Delete2024 is going to be big for Podgorica
ReplyDeleteThe flights would be more useful for Tivat.
DeleteWhy?
DeleteBecause the airport is struggling.
DeleteAnd also 99% of these passengers will go to the Montenegrin coast and not Podgorica.
DeleteAir Montenegro is launching Tivat-Izmir in the summer. There is also Tivat-Istnabul. Only Ankara is missing.
DeleteDo you have some Infos TK would start Ohrid anytime soon?
DeleteHope they will consider Ohrid
ReplyDeleteTurkish will launch Ohrid. We need Skopje - Ankara.
Deleteno they will not (they want them to launch this routea) . and yes for Ankara
DeleteAnadolu will probably launch Ankara soon.
DeleteWell done Pegasus
ReplyDeleteWell done Turkey
DeleteDo you have some Infos TK would start Ohrid anytime soon?
DeleteI travelled to Montenegro last weekend and I was pleasantly surprised how many Turkish people were there in off season. They reoriented themselves from RUS/UKR turist to Turkey/Azerbaijan market and it seems they are filling the gap slowly.
ReplyDeleteA lot of Turkish people have also bought property in Montenegro
DeleteTrue. They bought it over from many Russians.
DeleteDoes Pegasus fly to Russia?
ReplyDeleteYes, many cities
DeleteThis winter they have 27 weekly flights to VKO, 11 to LED and 3 to KZN. Not all are from SAW though. VKO flights are also operated from ADB and AYT.
DeleteWhat are Pegasus' operations like in Sofia and Bucharest?
ReplyDeleteIn summer
DeleteBucharest - 8 weekly flights in total (5 to SAW and 3 to AYT)
Sofia - 2 weekly flights (AYT only)
Wow I'm surprised how few flights they have, especially to Sofia!
DeleteTK is the absolute leader in SOF, the demand for transfers through Istanbul is huge.
DeleteAir transport from Bulgaria to Turkey is a bit more limited because many people use the highway to Istanbul or road transport because buses are way much cheaper and more used because of the cheap lira and massive shopping made and large amounts of luggage. Last summer, Turkey allowed Bulgarians to enter with their ID only and more people visit. So, it is only TK that "dominates" but a huge part of the traffic is transfer via IST. The fares from SOF to IST are extremely expensive for a 50min flight. Plus many Turks visit mainly Plovdiv and not Sofia and it is even closer to the border. Varna is 35min by plane but interestingly has more than 1 daily flight year-round again for the same reason. However, the Belgrade-Turkey network is much more again mainly because of the distance and no free visa regime.
DeleteAgain, according to the October 2023 stats, Turkey (184000) was the number 1 destination for Bulgarians followed by Greece (165000) and Serbia (60000) in 3rd spot (mainly via land):
https://www.nsi.bg/en/content/1963/trips-bulgarian-residents-abroad-purpose-visit-and-country-destination
Thanks for the information. Interesting to read and didn't know.
DeleteHope they launch Ankara next to Skopje.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteInteretsing that several routes are starting in the dead of winter.
ReplyDeleteFor city break tourists.
DeleteThere is also demand in the other direction too.
DeleteThere are a lot of Turkish tourists visiting the region so it should increase tourism even more.
ReplyDeleteMissing IST-SPU
DeleteExcellent! Pegasus is an LCC so prices will be affordable.
ReplyDeletegood addition
ReplyDeletePC come to LJU!!! 2x/week year around should work!
ReplyDeleteSurprising that they don't already
DeleteBravo Fraport!
DeleteIt is very possible that bilateral between Slovenia and Turkey only allows national airlines to fly.
DeleteMaybe visas for Turkish citizens are an issue as well.
DeleteEven if it were an issue, which I doubt, Pegasus is a transfer airline and would offer excellent and affordable connections to the Middle East.
Deleteuhm Turkey and EU have signed an agreement (2010) that any airline from the EU can fly to Turkey from anywhere in the EU, right?
Delete^ No, talks have been held but an agreement was never reached and talks have been frozen for years.
Delete"Although the European Union has initiated talks on an aviation agreement with Turkey, which would remove nationality restrictions in the bilateral air services agreements between EU member states and the Eurasian country, no progress has been made on the deal for over a decade."
https://www.exyuaviation.com/2023/10/pegasus-airlines-eyes-zagreb-service.html
Unfortunate
DeletePegasus is one of the better low-costs I've flown on.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThey are even not entirely LCC. You can connect on their network, it's not only P2P, plus one checked luggage and one normal size cabin luggage are included in the price. At least it was the case when I flew last with them, 2-3 years ago
Deleteno they are not included :) You can choose between Basic, Essential and 2 more classes of tickets. Basic is their lcc fare but the price for a "kufer" is much lower then @WizzRyan&Co so mayny decide to go for Essential
DeleteOk, thanks for the info on checked luggage. But still, normal size cabin luggage included in basic, and transfer possibility for almost all flights, is something LCC usually don't have. So at the end, they are not entirely LCC, which I said.
DeleteHope these routes to TGD and ZAG can work in winter.
ReplyDeleteThey should consider INI
ReplyDeleteThey can consider it all they want. The bilateral between Serbia and Turkey does not allow them to expand. That's why they are stuck on 4 weekly SAW-BEG since they started flights.
DeleteDon't forget BEG-IST is a PSO route operated by JU, so I don't think another airline can start it (even if there were bilateral permissions for it).
DeleteYou would think that with the economic situation in Turkey it would be more difficult for people to travel.
ReplyDeleteThe more the merrier
ReplyDeleteI think these Turkish carriers will completely kill of Air Montenegro on Turkey flights. Let's see.
ReplyDelete700,000 seats is not bad for summer season at all.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling they will launch more new routes to ex-Yu.
ReplyDeleteTo where?
DeleteLjubljana
DeleteI'm surprised they have more flights to SKP than SJJ.
ReplyDeleteSKP is bigger market considering the number of people going on summer holidays in Turkey.
DeleteSJJ has more people holidaying in Turkey but also bear in mind that Turkish has the same number of IST/SAW rotations in Belgrade and Sarajevo plus the SunExpress competition on Antalya for PGS
Delete@22.41 any evidence of this claim?? Antalya from SKP had 89k last year
DeleteIs it possible to BNX next year?
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed
DeleteWell TK said it is not interested in BNX so there is room for Pegasus.
DeleteIt would be very beneficial for them to establish one or two flights per week with OMO for overseas travel. Probably better in comparing with Croatia Airlines.
DeleteWhat about DUB -GZP
ReplyDeleteDublin-Gazipasa?
DeleteI think SKP is up to 15: 8 SAW, 3 ADB, 4 AYT or?
ReplyDeleteIt's 14, ADB is 2x weekly - Wednesday, Sunday.
DeleteSun Express will increse Izmir on three times per week, while Pegasus alone will have four daily departures from SKP on sundays, twice to SAW, once to ADB and once to AYT.
Deleteok. They fly 3x ADB in winter but 2x in summer? thats interesting
DeleteThey probably need aircraft for other routes to bring tourists to Izmir in summer.
DeleteMNE airports are continuing to grow so well. This is so impressive. TGD for a country with its size with the recent Turkish additions already has 6 new routes for 2024 and TIV a whopping 9 i.e. 15 new routes in total! TIV has chances to pursue 750,000 passengers by 2026 and TGD perhaps more than 1,6 million. Shows the airport authorities have found the formula to attract more new markets. MNE will probably boom and we may see FR basing a plane there. They already have more than 50 Maxes expected by the summer.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile 8 flights from BEG to IST today...
ReplyDeleteYes and JU is operating one of its flights to IST today with the A330-200.
DeleteNice. The majority of Europe celebrates Christmas, and the number of flights is low, so I guess people are using Istanbul more today specifically.
DeleteBravo Podgorica!
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know why no Airline from Turkey considers Ohrid as a possibility? Since the numbers from Vienna are crushing with WizzAir! Its really a clue for me how nobody sees the immense potential for Istanbul! Is it a power grab from SKP? I am really interested about your thoughts or maybe insights on this.
ReplyDeleteThere is a possibility for TK to start flights next year
DeleteGood airline
ReplyDeleteBravo for Zagreb! Bravo Croatia!
ReplyDelete