I flew Pegasus Airlines to different destinations from Tirana to Istanbul, Izmir, Brussels, and recently to Tel Aviv. All has been alright with the flights, except their harsh landings and their hub, Sabiha Gokcen International airport in Istanbul, which I guess wins the price for the most-hated airport in the world (lack of wi-fi, unfriendly staff and limited things to do there).
But recently all we hear about Pegasus Airlines on the news is: incidents.
The latest happened on Saturday at the Düsseldorf airport in Germany, as a plane (an Airbus A320) with 163 passengers on board was evacuated when one of its wheels caught fire after landing from Istanbul. The airport ground crew noticed one of its wheels was on fire, according to airport authorities.
Passengers were ordered by the pilot to evacuate using the emergency slides. There were no injuries reported.
The incident is the second involving Turkey-based Pegasus Airlines this February. On February 5, a Pegasus Boeing 737 skidded off a runway at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport killing three people. An investigation into the Istanbul crash is ongoing.
A month earlier, on 7 January 2020, Pegasus Airlines Flight 747, a Boeing 737-800 overran the runway on landing at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport. All on board evacuated via slides. There were no injuries
On 13 January 2018, Pegasus Airlines Flight 8622, a Boeing 737-800 from Esenboğa International Airport, Ankara to Trabzon Airport, veered off the wet runway at Trabzon, slid into the ground of an acutely angled cliff, and got stuck in the mud, which prevented the 41-tonne fuselage from skidding into the Black Sea. All 168 people on board survived and there were no reported injuries. The aircraft sustained substantial damage.
On 10 March 2010, Pegasus Airlines Flight 361, an Airbus A319 operated by IZair on a ferry flight, made an emergency landing at Frankfurt Airport, Germany after a malfunction in the nose gear. The flight landed safely but blew both front nose gear tires. The airport closed runway 07R/25L for 3 hours to allow recovery. The nose gear suffered the same problem as JetBlue Flight 292.
Pegasus Airlines operates daily flights from Tirana International Airport to Sabiha Gokcen in Istanbul.