Spain’s Directorate of Civil Aviation (“Dirección General de Aviación Civil”) has assigned seven weekly frequencies to Air Europa to potentially operate between Barcelona (BCN) and Istanbul (IST).
In May 2025, the Spanish airline launched a four-weekly nonstop service linking Madrid-Barajas (MAD) to the Turkish hub. This was later increased to a daily service.
Air links between Spain and Turkey were expanded in 2025 on the back of growing tourism and business links between the two countries, as well as connecting traffic. Turkish Airlines launched the first nonstop connection between Istanbul and Sevilla (SQV) in September 2025, while its fully owned subsidiary AJet followed with the launch of the services between Ankara-Esenboga (ESB) and both Barcelona and Madrid in October.
Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling, part of International Airlines Group (IAG), also launched its own nonstop service between Barcelona and Istanbul (IST). This route started with three weekly flights in each direction, but frequency was increased to a daily service not long after its launch and is expected to grow to 13 flights per week in the summer of 2026.
As per the bilateral agreement currently in place between Spain and Turkey, there is still room for Spanish airlines to add frequencies between the two countries.
In November 2024, when Spanish Directorate of Civil Aviation assigned a daily frequency between Madrid and Istanbul to Air Europa, there were still 25 weekly frequencies available for Spanish carriers to operate between Barcelona and Istanbul. 11 of these appear to have since been taken by Air Europa’s (seven) and Vueling’s (four) capacity increases. Additionally, there were another 35 available frequencies per week between Madrid and Istanbul and 14 for the rest of the routes between the two countries.
In the case of Air Europa, the launch of new Turkish routes represents an entirely new vector for growth. The Spanish carrier has traditionally been focused on Western European and Latin American markets. However, Turkish Airlines’ acquisition of a 26% equity stake in the airline opens up new commercial and operational opportunities.
Speaking with AeroTime in Seville in September 2025, Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board, Professor Ahmed Bolat confirmed that the two carriers will operate in closer alignment in the future, although he did not elaborate further on the operational or commercial details.
The launch of new Turkish routes by Air Europe will, at the very least, facilitate connectivity between the two airlines’ highly complementary networks.
AeroTime has reached out to Air Europa for comment.