Air Europe began flying from London Gatwick Airport (LGW) on 4 May 1979 as a British charter airline operating Boeing 737s, according to a retrospective by Aerospace Global News. The report said the carrier had been created the previous year as Inter European Airways by former Dan-Air executives Errol Cossey and Martin O'Regan, together with Harry Goodman, founder of tour operator Intasun Leisure.
The report said the new airline's principal purpose was to provide aircraft for Intasun's expanding package-holiday business. Air Europe began operations with three new Boeing 737-200 Advanced aircraft, opened a second base at Manchester in 1979 and added Cardiff in 1982, by which time it had seven Boeing 737s and was carrying more than a million passengers a year.
According to the report, Air Europe launched its first scheduled service on 2 May 1985, linking Gatwick with Palma de Mallorca, with Gibraltar following later that year and Manchester to Gibraltar added in 1986. Munich was added in December 1987, followed by Paris in February 1988 and Brussels in April, as the airline moved further into scheduled European flying.
The report said Air Europe built a substantial presence at Gatwick during the 1980s, acquired and established airlines in several European countries and created a network crossing national borders. Its parent company, International Leisure Group (ILG), controlled Intasun, and Air Europe supplied the aircraft and seats needed to carry Intasun's holidaymakers, the report said.
By the end of the decade, the report said, the Air Europe name had become the public face of carriers stretching from Britain and Ireland to Spain, Germany, Norway and Italy. The report said increasing competition, rising fuel prices and economic recession derailed its pan-European plans and expedited the end of the carrier and its ambitions.
