Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) has submitted a EUR275 million euro (USD320 million) binding offer to acquire between 26% and 27% of Spanish carrier Air Europa (UX, Palma de Mallorca), according to local news reports.
Separately, Turkish Airlines confirmed to Türkiye’s public disclosure platform (Kamuyu Aydinlatma Platformu - KAP) that it had decided to submit an offer to acquire a minority stake as investing in Air Europa “will be compatible with the long-term value creation targets within the scope of our 2033 strategy.”
In its notice to the KAP, Turkish said that having a stake in Air Europa would allow it to achieve rapid and scalable growth in the Latin American market and contribute to improving and strengthening its revenue streams and regional operational diversity.
Spanish daily El País reported that Juan José Hidalgo, Air Europa’s president, was “satisfied” with the agreement and that the money would ensure the carrier could continue operating. The new capital million will allow Air Europa to repay the EUR475 million (USD551 million) loan that Spain's sovereign wealth fund (Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales - SEPI) provided to the carrier at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hidalgo added that Globalia, parent company of Air Europa and owner of 80% of it, will not seek further stakeholders, as the carrier will now have two “strong partners” - IAG International Airlines Group, which currently owns the remaining 20%, and Turkish Airlines.
Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group recently backed out of their negotiations with Globalia for a potential investment in Air Europa. Both groups are reportedly interested in TAP Air Portugal, which is going through a partial privatisation process, with Lisbon offering up to 44% to private investors (and 5% to employees).
Air Europa operates a fleet comprising one B737-8 (with a further 28 to be delivered), seventeen B737-800s, ten B787-8s, and eighteen B787-9s (plus five more to be delivered). Subsidiary Aeronova operates nine B737-800s.
ch-aviation has reached out to Air Europa and Globalia for comment.
Globalia has been seeking to sell Air Europa for years. In 2024, its agreement with IAG to acquire the remaining 80% was abandoned after the European Commission sought to block the deal (despite many remedies offered) on the grounds that it would harm competition as the group also owns Iberia.
Confidentiality protected
In a separate development, Spain’s Audiencia Nacional court has ruled against the country’s transparency watchdog (Consejo de Transparencia y Buen Gobierno - CTBG), upholding the confidentiality of documents related to the SEPI bailout granted to Air Europa in 2020.
This confirms a lower court decision that SEPI was not obliged to release key documents due to confidentiality provisions outlined in a royal decree. The requested information falls under a specific legal confidentiality regime that supersedes the general transparency law, it added, as reported by the newspaper El Confidencial.
