Pegasus Airlines (PC, Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen) is interested in placing a new aircraft order for narrowbodies to arrive after 2029, according to the company’s chief executive officer, Guliz Ozturk.
In an interview with Bloomberg, she said that by 2029, the airline expects to receive 64 new Airbus single-aisle jets for its fleet, following a 2023 order for thirty-six A321-200neo.
“Beyond 2029, we have to work on a new order. When we see the demand here, we [would] want to grow the capacity,” she pointed out, clarifying that that there is no set timeline to make any official announcement.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows that Pegasus Airlines’ fleet comprises 107 aircraft, including six A320-200s, forty-six A320-200Ns, forty-five A321-200NXs, and ten B737-800s. The Boeing narrowbodies will remain in the company for the time being.
At the end of the first quarter of 2024, Pegasus Airlines expected 15 aircraft to be delivered in 2024, 11 in 2025, eight in 2026, 11 in 2027, 11 in 2028, and 11 in 2029. However, the company has seen delays in the arrival of two new planes that were scheduled to arrive in time for the summer season.
While the carrier has been moving towards running a single manufacturer fleet, Ozturk believes that having two separate OEMs is a good thing in light of the current delivery delays, adding that the company has not selected Airbus or Boeing for its future order.
Nonetheless, Pegasus Airlines is currently facing financial woes, and its performance is unsustainable due to soaring costs, the company’s chairman, Mehmet Nane, said at a luncheon at the Aviation Club UK.
“We are losing money. We have seen a 5% erosion in gross margin in three years. This is not sustainable,” Nane said, as reported by FlightGlobal. According to its financial statements, the carrier posted a TRY3.5 billion Turkish lira (USD107 million) net loss in 2024’s first quarter.
