When Turkey's Esas Holding, a private equity firm set up by the powerful Sabanci family, bought Istanbul-based charter carrier Pegasus Airlines in 2005 and relaunched it as a domestic low-cost carrier, few paid attention to the venture. Those that did doubted its success. But Esas, which also has a 12.2% share in Air Berlin (which it is reportedly trying to sell to Etihad Airways), is proving that its analysis was spot-on. In less than 10 years, Pegasus Airlines has successfully introduced the no-frills concept to Turkey and become the largest privately owned scheduled airline in the country, carrying 16.8 million passengers on a network spanning 31 domestic destinations and 45 international gateways in 30 countries last year. Its market share in the scheduled market has grown to 27% on domestic routes, second only to Turkish Airlines.
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