Turkish Airlines Plans Lima Flights as Part of Broader Latin America Push

Turkish Airlines wants to fly to Lima. That's confirmed by a regulatory filing reviewed by Aviation Week. Almost everything else, including when, isn't.

In the filing, the Istanbul-based carrier said it had decided to begin scheduled service to the Peruvian capital "based on market conditions." No launch date. No routing. No word on which aircraft would fly it. That's a thin filing for a route that would be one of the longest in the airline's network.

If it happens, Lima becomes Turkish Airlines' 10th destination in Latin America and the Caribbean, joining Bogota, Buenos Aires, Cancun, Caracas, a currently suspended Havana route, Mexico City, Panama City, Santiago and Sao Paulo, according to Aviation Week. Several of those are tag-on flights, meaning the plane stops somewhere else first, a workaround for the sheer distance between Istanbul and South America.

The Air Europa Deal Is the Real Engine Here

The Lima push doesn't stand alone. It's part of a bigger bet Turkish Airlines placed last August, when it agreed to invest 300 million euros, about $342.7 million, for a minority stake in Spanish carrier Air Europa, according to Turkiye Today. Spain has since approved the acquisition, per Aviation Week, and the deal is expected to give Turkish Airlines somewhere between 25% and 27% ownership once finalized.

Ahmet Bolat, Turkish Airlines' Chairman of the Board and Executive Committee at the time the offer was submitted, told Hurriyet Daily News the Air Europa investment would be the carrier's first strategic equity acquisition of this scale. He said the tie-up would extend beyond shared routes into aircraft maintenance, procurement, loyalty programs, cabin design and seat manufacturing. "With a fleet of 53 aircraft serving 30 countries, its culture and business model resemble ours," Bolat said, adding the airline had previously done smaller partnerships with Air Albania and Air Bosna, plus a revenue-sharing deal with Thai Airways, but "none have matched the scale or scope of this potential deal."

Air Europa serves more than 20 destinations across Latin America and the Caribbean, according to Aviation Week, which is exactly the kind of network reach Turkish Airlines doesn't have on its own from Istanbul.

Seker Says More Deals Are Coming

Murat Seker, Turkish Airlines' current chairman, told Bloomberg TV the carrier has widened its acquisition search since the Air Europa agreement, with Asia and South America as the likely next targets, according to Turkiye Today. The airline is also looking at cargo operators and aircraft maintenance and overhaul companies, expanding a business it's already built out through Turkish Technic.

That MRO push isn't hypothetical. In May 2025 Turkish Airlines joined Rolls-Royce's global maintenance network and broke ground on a $300 million engine maintenance facility at Istanbul Airport, according to Turkiye Today. That facility is scheduled to open in 2027 and will service Trent XWB-84, Trent XWB-97 and Trent 7000 engines, with capacity for 200 shop visits a year, serving both Turkish Airlines and outside customers.

Separately, the airline already owns 50% of leisure carrier SunExpress, with Germany's Lufthansa holding the other half under a joint venture dating back to 1989, per Turkiye Today.

Why Lima, and Why Now

Peru's tourism promotion agency, Promperu, has flagged long-haul air service as a priority, naming Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and parts of Asia as underserved markets, according to Aviation Week. Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport recently completed an expansion, adding capacity the city is counting on to become a regional connecting hub. Air Canada has restarted Toronto service and Level has launched flights from Barcelona, both signs other carriers see the same opportunity Turkish Airlines is chasing.

But Lima's hub ambitions have run into a real obstacle: a newly introduced transit passenger fee at the airport. Industry groups including IATA have argued publicly that the charge threatens to push connecting traffic toward rival hubs like Bogota and Panama City, according to Aviation Week. If Lima's fee structure makes connections there more expensive than the competition, it could undercut exactly the hub growth Peru is trying to build, regardless of how many airlines announce new routes.

Where Turkish Airlines Actually Stands in the Region

The numbers put the ambition in context. Europe-Latin America capacity hit roughly 754,000 two-way weekly seats in June, according to OAG Schedules Analyser data cited by Aviation Week. Iberia leads that market with 12.7% share, followed by Air France at 11%, Air Europa at 7.4%, KLM at 6.4%, TAP Air Portugal at 6.3% and British Airways at 5.4%.

Turkish Airlines currently runs about 23,100 two-way weekly seats on the same routes, roughly 3% of total capacity. That's a small slice. The Air Europa stake, once completed, and a potential Lima route are both bets on growing that share, not evidence the airline already competes at Iberia or Air France's scale.

The carrier is also mid-fleet-renewal, with 15 Airbus A350-1000s on order as part of a broader deal covering 70 A350-family jets, according to Aviation Week. First deliveries aren't expected until mid-2