Low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines is launching new flights between London Gatwick and Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen.

The flights will offer passengers a chance to fly onto destinations across Turkey and beyond as well as to North Cyprus from May 1st.

This new route flying between London Gatwick and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen will operate six days a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, connecting on to further destinations across Turkey, including top summer destinations, cultural hotspots and gourmet havens, and beyond.

Commenting on the launch of Pegasus’ newest route, Guliz Ozturk, Pegasus Airlines chief commercial officer, said: “We are delighted to be launching our London Gatwick route.

“The UK is a major destination for us, we operate twice daily flights from Stansted and flew 381.000 guests to and from UK during 2014 translating to a year-on-year increase of 25 per cent, thus we’re confident that this new Gatwick flights will be warmly welcomed by our guests.

“Gatwick is conveniently located just 47 kilometres outside of London’s city centre and operates the highest number of point-to-point flights in Europe.

“With the launch of our new route, we are giving our UK guests more choice and flexibility when planning their travels.

“We hope to attract more guests who will enjoy travelling to Istanbul and the exciting destinations beyond, both within Turkey and elsewhere in our network always at our affordable fares.”

With the launch of this Gatwick route, Pegasus now flies a scheduled service to 30 destinations in Turkey and 59 in the rest of the world, bringing its total network to 89 destinations in 37 countries.

Matt Wood, head of airline relations at London Gatwick, said: “We are delighted to welcome Pegasus to Gatwick as it starts its first ever scheduled flights from the airport.

“This is a prime example of an airline choosing Gatwick to grow its business as we continue to offer competition on critical routes to emerging markets such as Istanbul in Turkey.

“Whether it be business or leisure, arriving passengers can be in Central London in under 30 minutes and in the business district of Canary Wharf in under 45 minutes.”