Focus on: Pegasus pre-order success

Pegasus Airlines has worked with Do&Co to offer innovative pre-order meals since 2009. Nik Loukas finds out how the partnership has prospered

the Pegasus Airlines preorder system is an in-house built software program that feeds from the airline’s ticket reservations – orders are sent to the airline caterer immediately once the passenger has created the request online.

The airline is currently receiving over one million pre-order meals yearly, that’s 3.6% of their total passengers carried. With some airlines only recording stats of around 1%, Pegasus is well above industry standard. So how do they do it?

Quality first

Gürkan Kızıltepe, commercial coordinator at Turkish Do&Co, insists it's all about the taste. “People pre-order it because they like Do&Co’s tasty food,” he smiles. And while this is undoubtedly a contributing factor, there are some other reasons too.

Firstly, the airline offers 26 different pre-order meals, meaning it can entice even the fussiest of passengers. The most popular dishes are the chicken sandwich and the Turkish grilled

meatballs. But the airline also offers something unique, a pre-order sushi set that is only available ex-Istanbul (to keep it as fresh as possible). This dish is most popular with Russian and Ukranian travellers. Pricing is also a factor, with the focus on offering great value alongside high-quality products.

Omer Kazak, the inflight sales and services leader, has spent over 20 years working with the airline. He believes the secret to creating the Pegasus inflight experience is “talking to your crew” and prioritising passenger feedback.

Many of the products the airline lists on in the buy-onboard programme have been chosen with input this way. He has plenty to choose from too, with a vast array of products making their way onto his desk from suppliers vying to get a place on the programme.

Service target

Offering such choice has its issues.

For Kazak, his most significant challenges are aircraft swaps, and while the airline is currently working with a 24-hour preorder deadline, they are aiming cut this to 12 hours, in the hope of boosting ancillary revenues.

The Do&Co unit at Sabiha Gocken airport opened two years ago to better serve Do&Co’s clients flying into the airport. Previously trucks would make the daily 60km trip from Atatürk. Capacity is 35,000 meals daily, with Pegasus the biggest single customer. •

The focus is offering great value alongside high quality