SAGA AIRLINES

What SAGA AIRLINES does

SAGA Airlines (Saga Hava Taşımacılık A.Ş.) is a privately held Turkish passenger airline established in 2002 and commencing commercial operations in April 2004 after receiving its operating license from the Ministry of Transportation's General Directorate of Civil Aviation. The company was founded as a sister entity to Akkol Turizm Havacılık Nakliyat ve Dış Ticaret A.Ş. (Saga Tours) and İstanbul Petrol A.Ş., embedding the airline within a tourism-sector corporate group. Its general directorate is based in a multi-story facility in the Florya area of Istanbul, with technical and ground operations at Istanbul Atatürk Airport.

The airline operates a four-aircraft fleet consisting of two Airbus A310-304 wide-body jets (TC-SGB and TC-SGC) and two Boeing 737-400 narrow-body jets (TC-SGD and TC-SGE), providing combined capacity of approximately 813 seats. The fleet supports both scheduled and charter passenger services, primarily catering to tourism-sector travelers in the Turkish civil aviation market. Supporting infrastructure includes a modern training classroom for cabin and cockpit crew development. Distribution is conducted through direct passenger ticket sales via the company's multilingual website (Turkish, English, German) and through travel-agency and tour-operator channels, including its parent-group tour operator.

The revenue model is transaction-based on passenger air transportation, with pricing following standard industry conventions for route, class, and booking timing. Headcount is stated at approximately 120 employees, with one source indicating up to 200+ personnel. The company is privately held with no public listing; ownership is anchored by Chairman Abdülkadir KOLOT, with General Manager Ali Birhan TEMEL leading operations. Public-facing material dates primarily to the 2007-2008 period, and current operational status is not confirmed in available sources.

Name

SAGA AIRLINES

Legal name

Saga Hava Taşımacılık Anonim Şirketi

Website

https://sagaairlines.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SAGA Airlines is a privately held Turkish passenger airline operating a four-aircraft Airbus/Boeing fleet from Istanbul, providing scheduled and charter services primarily to tourism-sector travelers via its sister-company tour operator Akkol Turizm (Saga Tours).

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Passenger Air Transportation

NAICS

Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation (481111), Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation (481211)

SIC

Air Transportation, Scheduled (4512), Air Transportation, Nonscheduled (4522)

akta.pro primary industry

Full-Service Airlines (Passenger + Belly Cargo Integrated) (THABAAAF)

Keywords

• Scheduled passenger flights
• Charter flight services
• Commercial aviation
• Air transportation services
• Airline fleet operations

Headquarters

HQ city

Istanbul

HQ country

Türkiye

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Passenger Air Transportation: Revenue generated from passenger air transportation services including scheduled and charter flights. The company operates a fleet of Airbus A310 and Boeing 737-400 aircraft providing commercial aviation services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

SAGA Airlines provides commercial passenger air transportation services, operating a four-aircraft fleet of two Airbus A310-304 wide-body jets and two Boeing 737-400 narrow-body jets from Istanbul Atatürk Airport. The airline serves both scheduled flights and charter operations primarily catering to the Turkish tourism sector and general air travelers, with a combined fleet passenger capacity of approximately 813 seats.

Product overview

Saga Airlines (Saga Hava Taşımacılık A.Ş.) is a Turkish airline offering passenger air transportation services. The company operates a fleet consisting of Airbus A310-304 wide-body aircraft (named AKÇAABAT and FETHIYE KOLOT) and Boeing 737-400 narrow-body aircraft (named KEMAL KOLOT and KAYRA ALİOĞLU). The airline serves both scheduled and charter flight operations, primarily targeting the Turkish tourism sector with flights from Istanbul Atatürk Airport and operations based at Florya in Istanbul. The company was established in 2002 and began operations in April 2004 as a sister company to Akkol Turizm (Saga Tours).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation
• Charter Flight Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Employee educational level average well above Turkey average
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Akkol Turizm Havacılık Nakliyat ve Dış Ticaret A.Ş. (Saga Tours)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSaga Airlines was established as the sister company of Akkol Turizm Havacılık Nakliyat ve Dış Ticaret A.Ş. (Saga Tours), which has nearly 20 years of experience in the tourism sector. This parent company provides tourism industry expertise and likely charter flight business.
• İstanbul Petrol A.Ş.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSister company alongside Akkol Turizm, both under the same ownership structure. Part of the corporate group establishing Saga Airlines.
• AirbusminorOthersAircraft manufacturer supplying Airbus A310 aircraft to the airline fleet.
• BoeingminorOthersAircraft manufacturer supplying Boeing 737-400 aircraft to the airline fleet.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Others

• İstanbul Petrol A.Ş. Co-parent corporate group owner of Saga Airlines; relevant as the financial/strategic shareholder whose resources back the airline's operations.
• Akkol Turizm (Saga Tours): Parent/sister tourism company that established Saga Airlines; the source of charter demand and a key distribution channel for the airline.

Direct peers

• Freebird Airlines: Turkish charter carrier specializing in tourism traffic with narrowbody fleet, providing comparable ACMI/charter services to tour operators across Turkey and Europe.
• Onur Air: Turkish charter and scheduled passenger airline operating a similar widebody/narrowbody mixed fleet, historically serving tourism routes from Istanbul — the closest direct peer to Saga Airlines in business model and customer segment.
• Corendon Airlines: Turkey-based leisure carrier (part of Corendon tourism group) operating charter and scheduled flights to European holiday destinations — directly mirrors Saga's sister-tour-operator-driven model.
• SunExpress: Joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa focused on leisure/tourism routes from Turkey to Europe with a narrowbody fleet; competes in the same Turkish tourism-charter category as Saga.
• Pegasus Airlines: Turkey's leading low-cost carrier with extensive domestic and international network from Istanbul; represents the dominant scheduled competition that small Turkish carriers like Saga must contend with.
• AtlasGlobal: Formerly Atlasjet, a Turkish leisure/charter airline with comparable narrowbody operations and tourism customer base; historically competed head-to-head with Saga in the Istanbul charter market.

Broad incumbents

• Turkish Airlines: Flag carrier and dominant network airline operating from Istanbul; sets pricing, route capacity, and competitive context across all Turkish aviation segments where Saga operates.

Emerging players

• Tailwind Airlines: Turkish leisure carrier focused on charter and scheduled tourism routes; smaller-scale niche operator comparable to Saga in fleet size and target market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/saga-airlines

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SAGA AIRLINES