Istanbul : Pegasus Airlines, a Turkish budget airline, plans to hold an initial public offering in the second half of 2010, Chairman Ali Sabanci said on CNBC-e television.
The carrier will select an adviser for the IPO on January 8, Sabanci told the Istanbul-based channel yesterday.
Pegasus Airlines is a low-cost carrier headquartered in the Halkalı area of Küçükçekmece, Istanbul, Turkey. Formerly a charter airline in partnership with Aer Lingus, Pegasus is now completely independent.
The carrier started a charter airline in 1989 and grew over the years.
In 2005, Esas Holdings purchased Pegasus Airlines and placed Ali Sabanci as the chairman. In 2007, Pegasus carried more passengers in Turkey than any other private airline. In 2008, it carried a total of 4.4 million passengers.
Pegasus has a total of 24 Boeing and Airbus aircraft and flies to 70 destinations. Twenty more aircraft are on order.
— With inputs from Bloomberg
