Türkiye Became the World's Transit Center in Aviation

Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu attended the Pegasus Leaders Meeting via teleconference.

In his speech here, Minister Uraloğlu underlined that Turkey has a unique advantage in terms of accessibility and said, "With only a 4-hour flight time, it is at the center of 1,4 countries in the Asian, European and African continents, where 8 billion people live and a trade volume of 600 trillion 67 billion dollars." We are in a position. Türkiye is very suitable to become the transit center of the world in the field of aviation. "Moving from this fact, we have become one of the fastest developing countries in the world with the air transportation policies and activities we have carried out since 2002," he said.

Emphasizing that aviation activities have become one of the most important elements of the global relations network and international trade, Minister Uraloğlu stated that they increased the number of active airports from 26 to 57 and the number of countries with Air Transport Agreements from 81 to 2023 by the end of 173. Uraloğlu said that thus, international flights were carried out to 50 destinations in 60 countries, and that 286 new destinations were added to the flight network, reaching 130 destinations in 346 countries.

“OVER 214 MILLION PEOPLE USED THE AIRLINE”

Minister Uraloğlu stated that they increased the number of passengers traveling on domestic and international lines, which was approximately 2002 million in 34,5, to more than 2023 million in 214. "Pegasus hosted nearly 2023 million guests alone in 32. Approximately 12 million of these are domestic guests and 20 million are international guests. In this way, more than 2023 billion dollars of service exports were brought to our country in 2. When we look back, we see that Pegasus was a complete success story. "Pegasus, which organized flights to 2005 airports with 14 aircraft in 7, has today taken under its wing 110 destinations in 35 countries, 100 of which are domestic and 52 abroad, with its fleet of 135 aircraft," he said.

Reminding that there are connecting flights between Turkey and Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia via Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, Minister Uraloğlu stated that the 2023nd runway of Sabiha Gökçen Airport, which opened at the end of 2, doubled the air traffic capacity of the airport. Uraloğlu said, “I think this increase has made a great contribution to Pegasus' flight operations and opened new horizons. Pegasus attracts attention by reducing its costs throughout the sector and continues its work with its innovative, rational, principled and responsible approach. With the aim of being among the leading airlines that use technology best in the world, it increases its technology investments every year. Believing that technology provides value that makes a difference, it follows many new technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, cloud technologies, virtual reality and takes important steps in this direction. It makes technology investments within a wide ecosystem, primarily in the areas of an easy travel experience and operational efficiency. "These are big and appropriate steps for Pegasus, which has a history full of successes," he said.

Minister Uraloğlu reminded that Pegasus was deemed worthy of the 2023 Europe, Middle East and Africa Region Environmental Sustainability Airline and the World's 4th Youngest Aircraft Fleet 2024 awards, and said that these awards show that Pegasus is a global brand in the airline industry.