TRAVELPORT has announced a significant new participation agreement with Turkey’s leading low cost carrier, Pegasus Airlines.
The multi-year agreement means that access is given to the low cost carrier’s best inventory and fares for all Travelport Travel Commerce Platform (GDS) users globally.As part of the agreement, Pegasus Airlines will also take advantage of Travelport’s Sponsored Flights – an innovative point-of-sale advertising tool that places selected flights above the neutral display on the travel agent’s screen for optimum visibility. Will Owen Hughes, Travelport’s senior director supplier services, Africa, Middle East and South Asia, comments, “Pegasus Airlines is the latest fast-growing, low cost carrier to participate in our Travel Commerce Platform and the deal highlights our commitment to providing the widest airline content to both our regional and global customers. Turkey remains a key growth country and we’re delighted to be able to support Pegasus in the next stage of its development.”Güliz Öztürk, senior vice president commercial at Pegasus Airlines, adds: “Travelport’s extensive, world-wide travel agency network complements our ambitious growth plans, making it a valued partner and an important distribution channel. Being a low cost carrier, our outgoings need to be kept down so that we are able to offer the lowest possible fares to our customers.”He continues: “This partnership will be in-line with both our low cost model and our multi-channel approach and in turn, our ever-expanding network in the Middle East, Caucasus, Russia and Europe will mean that agents can tap into our wide network of 86 destinations in 36 countries, at low cost.” As many as 9.2 million passengers selected Pegasus Airlines in the first half of 2014 and to date the airline has flown a total of 78.4 million guests.According to the Official Airline Guide’s (OAG) reports for 2011, 2012 and 2013, Pegasus Airlines became the fastest growing airline of Europe’s 25 largest scheduled airlines in terms of capacity for three years running and is the latest in around 400 airlines to participate in Travelport’s GDS. In September, Travelport announced the pricing of its initial public offering (IPO) of 30,000,000 common shares at a price of $16 per share, valuing the company at $1.9 billion. The shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the US. New faces on the board: