Turkey aviation: #2 in Europe. Turkish, Pegasus focus on low costs

Turkey is now second only to Spain among the nations of Europe ranked by airline seats in the week of 16-Aug-2021 - Europe's #2 aviation market by seats.

Turkey's domestic-led recovery has taken it to 84% of 2019 seat capacity, much higher than the average of 66% for all of Europe.

Both of Turkey's leading airlines are at even higher percentages of 2019 seat numbers. The ultra-LCC Pegasus Airlines is back to 100%, and the national flag carrier Turkish Airlines is at 91%. In both cases, the passenger traffic recovery is behind capacity, but still ahead of Europe overall.

Pegasus' advantage stems from a greater exposure to the domestic market (although both benefit from Turkey's large domestic market), while Turkish Airlines has a greater exposure to the still depressed market for long haul connecting traffic.

Nevertheless, Turkish Airlines is also now making greater use of its low cost brand AnadoluJet. In a recovery led by short/medium haul, point-to-point routes, and with a strong cost-focused competitor in Pegasus, this looks like a sensible move.