This week Budapest Airport announces another important new route with the confirmation that Turkey’s leading low cost carrier Pegasus Airlines will launch a four times weekly service on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays between Budapest and Istanbul’s fast-growing Sabiha Gökçen Airport. The rapidly expanding leading low-cost carrier will begin the connection on 16 July with one-way fares from 36.99 EUR (approximately 11.000 HUF), operating the 1,081-kilometre sector using 737-800s.

Kam Jandu, Budapest Airport’s Chief Commercial Officer comments: “There were some key cities missing from the Pegasus Airlines route map – Budapest was one of them, but we have worked really hard to make sure we were chosen ahead of our competitors. With this carrier’s great record of sustaining routes we have no doubt that this new service will play a considerable role in growing the important Budapest-Istanbul market.”

Situated on the Asian side of the city, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen has a very different catchment area from Istanbul Atatürk, and also serves a large number of industrial cities in Eastern Turkey.

Besides serving Istanbul, Pegasus Airlines’ Budapest–Istanbul flights will also connect Hungarian travellers to 38 destinations within Turkey and beyond via Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen.

Güliz Öztürk, Chief Commercial Officer, Pegasus Airlines added: “By implementing a brand new low cost airlines model in Turkey, we continued 8 years of steady growth and carried 69.22 million guests with our scheduled flights until the end of 2013. We’re pleased to offer our Hungarian guests an affordable choice when they travel to Istanbul and 38 destinations beyond.”

Pegasus Airlines joins Wizz Air in offering a direct service to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, while Turkish Airlines already offers long-haul onward connections to the Middle East and East via Istanbul Atatürk. Jandu continues: “With a choice of three carriers offering an increasing range of services to Istanbul our passengers are now provided with the possibility of many different frequencies service levels and prices, and even both airports serving this significant mega city.”

Pegasus connects Budapest to 38 destinations
Pegasus connects from Budapest to 22 destinations within Turkey: Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Balıkesir/Edremit, Batman, Bodrum, Dalaman, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Erzincan, Gazipaşa/Alanya, Gaziantep, Hatay, İzmir, Kayseri, Konya, Malatya, Nevşehir, Samsun, Sivas, Şanlıurfa, Trabzon and 16 other international destinations: Almaty, Bahrain, Beirut, Bishkek, Doha, Donetsk, Dubai, Kharkiv, Krasnodar, Kuwait, North Cyprus, Lviv, Mineralnye Vody, Omsk, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv; comprising a total of 38 destinations in all.