Air Europa expands fleet

With passenger demand bouncing back after the pandemic, Air Europa has announced it will expand the fleet with eleven leased aircraft. Six of them will be B737-800s and five will be B787s. The B787s are needed as deliveries of new Dreamliners has been halted with no new delivery dates in sight. In total, eight new B787s have been produced already for Air Europa and are stored in the US awaiting the FAA clearing Boeing to resume B787-deliveries.

Four of the five leased B787s will be coming from Norse Atlantic. The Norwegian start-up is sub-leasing two of its B787-8s and two of its B787-9s to Air Europa for at least eighteen months. Norse doesn't need the aircraft themselves as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine has slowed down its ramp-up plans. The airline is now planning to launch flights in June and will expand more gradually.

With the eleven leased aircraft, Air Europa's capacity will grow to a higher level than it was pre-pandemic. Today, the airline's fleet consists of three ATR72-500s, sixteen B737-800s, eight B787-8s, ten B787-9s and four ERJ195s. Next to awaiting on delivery of Dreamliners, Air Europa has also open (lease) orders for 20 B737MAX8s.

Photo by Anton Homma.