Pegasus Airlines has reported annual net profit reached Turkish Lira (TRY) 507 million (US$92 million) in 2018 and turnover increased 55 per cent in 2018 to TRY 8.3 billion.
The Turkish low-cost carrier has its main base at Sabiha Gökçen Airport and increased its number of passengers by eight per cent to 30 million, 17.7 million on domestic, a five per cent rise and 12.3 million on international routes, a 12 per cent increase.
Pegasus Airlines chief executive officer, Mehmet T. Nane said: “We expanded our revenue 1.5 times, and despite rising fuel costs we managed to maintain our profitability. In short, we experienced another year in which we improved every key metric.”
Outlining his views on 2019, Nane said: “2019 seems to be a continuation of 2018, which was a tough year. Tourism made a major contribution in 2018 and we expect this to continue in 2019. In parallel with this, we believe that the number of passengers travelling with the airline will increase.
“We make our plans based on this conjecture. We strongly believe that the aviation sector is an important one in terms of benefiting from stormy waters, both for our country and our company. For this reason, 2019 is another potential year of growth for us.”
Nane said Pegasus will continue at full speed with their investments this year: “We took delivery of 10 aircraft in 2018. We will continue to add new aircraft to our fleet in 2019. In this regard, we expect to take delivery of 11 new aircraft from Airbus this year. We will receive the first of our 321neos this year.
“Customer satisfaction is one of our top criteria for success and it is an issue that we never compromise on. Digitalisation is a key component in ensuring that our customers choose us, by improving their travel experience.”
