Turkish budget airline Pegasus has celebrated 10 years of flying from Stansted Airport.

East Anglian Daily Times: From left, Daniel Gallo, customer services and security director, Stansted Airport; Ceyda Sara Pekenc, managing partner, Redmint, Pegasus Airlines UK PR and marketing representative; Raphaela Kleinen, Pegasus Airlines UK representative; and Mats Sigurdson, Stansted Airport aviation director. Picture: Tony PickFrom left, Daniel Gallo, customer services and security director, Stansted Airport; Ceyda Sara Pekenc, managing partner, Redmint, Pegasus Airlines UK PR and marketing representative; Raphaela Kleinen, Pegasus Airlines UK representative; and Mats Sigurdson, Stansted Airport aviation director. Picture: Tony Pick (Image: © 2017 Tony Pick)

Pegasus currently serves a total of 66 destinations from Stansted, across Turkey, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa.

Twice-a-day services to Istanbul and direct and connecting flights to destinations such as Izmir, Antalya and Bodrum in Turkey, along with Dubai, Beirut, Tbilisi and Tel Aviv are among its most popular routes from Stansted.

The airline is expanding its Russian services this year with the introduction this month of a new thrice-weekly service to Grozny ahead of flights to Volgograd, Samara and Nizhny Novgorod in June.

Guliz Ozturk, chief commercial office at Pegasus, said: “We are proud to have flown more than 1.5m guests since launching our scheduled service at London Stansted Airport 10 years ago.

East Anglian Daily Times: Pegasus Airlines flight deck and cabin crew members at Stansted Airport. Picture: Tony PickPegasus Airlines flight deck and cabin crew members at Stansted Airport. Picture: Tony Pick (Image: Tony Pick)

“I am delighted to confirm that the strong and positive relationship between Pegasus Airlines and London Stansted Airport is one that we will continue to build upon for further success in the future.”

Mats Sigurdson, aviation director at Stansted Airport, said: “On behalf of everyone at London Stansted Airport, I’d like to offer my congratulations to Pegasus on a fantastic and very successful 10 years at the airport.

“We are very proud to have them as a highly valued and key partner at the airport and very much look forward to working with them for many years to come as they continue to develop and grow their highly popular services from London Stansted Airport.”

In all, Pegasus serves more than 100 destinations in 40 different countries. Last year, it increased its total turnover by 6% and grew passenger numbers by 8.1% to 24.14m.