Flight Friday: Turkish Airlines Swoops In As Air Europa's New Dance Partner

Air Europa has long looked for a dance partner.

Back in 2019, IAG (International Airlines Group) announced its intention to buy Air Europa, even reducing the price in 2020, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, those plans were put on hold due to financial and regulatory challenges, with hopes for negotiations to restart in 2022. Also in 2022, IAG converted a loan into a 20% holding in Air Europa, but in 2023 the European Commission raised concerns over the deal, eventually leading to IAG walking away from the negotiating table in 2025.

Fast forward to August 2025, and Turkish Airlines has announced its intention to invest €300 million ($348 million) into Air Europa for a 27% share in the company. Therefore, this week’s Flight Friday looks at Air Europa.

Air Europa has been evolving its fleet to make it more appealing to any potential buyer. Back in 2019, Air Europa operated a fleet of Airbus A330s and several regional aircraft, primarily the Embraer E195, alongside 20 737-800s and 14 787s. However, post-pandemic, Air Europa has removed the regional aircraft and its Airbus aircraft from the fleet and has now consolidated to using almost 50 737s and 787s.

The 737s, both Next Generation and the newly introduced leased 737- 8, comprise the majority (70+%) of flights, with the 787s making up the remainder.

Utilization has remained reasonably constant with these Boeing-built aircraft since 2022, with almost 20 737-8s still on order to help grow the fleet or be part of a fleet replacement program for increased sustainability.

This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization database.