Pegasus Installs New CEO and CFO at Smartwings After Closing Czech Takeover

October 6, 2026 — Pegasus Airlines (PC) has put two of its own executives in charge of Smartwings (QS), days after closing its purchase of the Czech leisure carrier and sister airline Czech Airlines (OK).

What happened

AeroTime and FlightGlobal reported on October 5 that Emre Pekesen is the new chief executive of Smartwings and Nur Karabacak the new chief financial officer. Both took up their posts on October 1, the day the takeover closed.

Pekesen joined Pegasus in 2010 and has run group sales and network planning since 2022. Karabacak joined in 2018 and has led budget, reporting and cost control since 2019. The reports do not say what happens to the executives they replace: TBA.

Pegasus completed the acquisition on October 1 after receiving all regulatory approvals. The price has not been disclosed. FlightGlobal notes the deal closed about ten months after Pegasus first emerged as a bidder.

The combined group

Item	Detail
Deal closed	October 1, 2026
New Smartwings CEO and CFO	Emre Pekesen and Nur Karabacak, effective October 1, 2026
Combined fleet	More than 175 aircraft
Aircraft on firm order	140
Pegasus network	161 destinations in 57 countries
Smartwings network	80 destinations in 20 countries
Brands	Smartwings and Czech Airlines both stay
Network or integration changes	None announced; timeline TBA

Smartwings keeps running its own day-to-day operation in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. Pegasus chief executive Güliz Öztürk said the airlines can “offer our guests more choice than any of us could alone.”

What it means for travelers

A network planner now runs Smartwings. Schedule changes out of Prague are a reasonable thing to watch for over the coming seasons. That is an inference from the appointment, not an announced plan.
Why it matters: a Turkish low-cost carrier now owns the Czech flag-carrier brand and a combined fleet of more than 175 aircraft with 140 more on order.