Pegasus Airlines has completed its acquisition of Czech Airlines and low-cost unit Smartwings, taking control of a combined fleet of more than 175 aircraft and an order book of 140 additional jets.

The Turkish carrier closed the transaction 10 months after emerging as the winning bidder for the Czech group in December 2025. Pegasus chief executive Guliz Ozturk framed the takeover in customer-choice terms, while Smartwings co-founder Jiri Simane positioned the Turkish group as "the right partner" to "support future growth."

"Together we can grow further and offer our guests more choice than any of us could alone," Ozturk said.

What does the deal cover?

The transaction hands Pegasus Airlines two operating airlines, both of which will continue to fly under their existing names. The combined assets include:

• Czech Airlines, the Czech flag carrier
• Smartwings, the group's leisure-focused low-cost unit
• An active fleet of more than 175 aircraft
• Outstanding orders for 140 additional aircraft

Keeping the two brands separate is consistent with how the Czech group has historically run Czech Airlines as a scheduled operator and Smartwings as a charter and leisure carrier.

What did regulators require?

The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) provisionally cleared the transaction earlier this month. The approval carried conditions: Pegasus must transfer a number of summer slots on the Prague–Antalya route to another airline. The slot remedy targets the most direct route overlap between the two groups, since both Pegasus and Smartwings operate into Antalya, Turkey's primary Mediterranean leisure gateway.

The use of "provisionally cleared" indicates a final clearance could follow once the slot commitments are executed and the receiving carrier is identified.

Who else wanted the deal?

Israeli leisure operator Israir Group had been negotiating for a potential acquisition of Smartwings before Pegasus took the deal. The change of suitor leaves Israir — which runs a smaller fleet focused on Mediterranean holiday routes — without the acquisition it had been pursuing.

What does Pegasus gain?

The Czech group extends Pegasus beyond its Turkish domestic base and the short-haul European network it has built into secondary points. For the Czech carriers, the deal places them under a parent with a more diversified network and a larger combined order book than either airline could claim on its own.

Czech Airlines and Smartwings will continue to staff, schedule and price their networks independently, at least in the near term.

What happens to the order book?

The 140-aircraft order book is the most significant forward-looking figure in the transaction, since it determines how the merged group will scale over the next narrowbody delivery cycle. Pegasus has not yet disclosed how the backlog will be allocated between Czech Airlines and Smartwings, nor whether the slot remedies will constrain network planning at Prague during the peak summer months.

The structural choice to retain two brands leaves open the question of whether the Turkish group will eventually consolidate Czech Airlines into Pegasus or maintain the two as parallel operations serving different market segments. Watch for the first post-completion traffic data from Prague Airport to see whether the slot transfer commitment materially reshapes summer capacity on routes into Turkey.