Turkey’s Pegasus volume jumped in July as air travel rebounds

Passenger volume at the Turkish airline Pegasus Hava jumped in July from a year ago but remains well below pre-pandemic levels as travel restrictions continue.

At 2.49 million, travelers for the month were up 137% from July 2020 but down 19% from 2019, the Istanbul-based low-cost carrier said in an exchange filing on Friday. In June, passengers were 1.78 million.

Separately, in a presentation, Pegasus said it was outperforming its peers in capacity recovery while still facing a “heavy and unforeseeable restrictive environment” on international travel.

Pegasus flies domestically and to destinations in Europe and the Middle East.

Other highlights:

• Domestic passengers were up 78% year over year in July to 1.45 million, and also up 3% from July 2019.
• International passengers jumped 346% from a year ago to 1.04 million, still down 33% from July 2019.
• Total January-July passenger volume rose 25% from 2020 but was down 45% from 2019.
• Pegasus Hava’s load factor was up by 2.9 percentage points to 80.6% in July.
• Shares are down 5% for the year to date, hit recently by worries about the spreading delta variant.
• Link to statement: PEGASUS HAVA TAŞIMACILIĞI A.Ş.: Özel Durum Açıklaması (Genel)