Air Europe was a wholly privately owned, independent British airline, established in 1978 under the working title Inter European Airways.It adopted the Air Europe name the following year.

    Air Europe was the main supplier of charter seats to Intasun Leisure, which grew during the 1980s to become the UK's second-largest package tour operator (after long-established market leader Thomson Holidays).

    Towards the end of the 1980s Air Europe became the first airline to acquire a pan-European presence by setting up several subsidiaries on the Continent. Air Europe also acquired two small regional airlines, forming the nucleus of a new Air Europe Express regional airline subsidiary. The acquired slots at Gatwick enabled it to increase frequencies as well as launch new scheduled routes. By the end of the decade Air Europe had become Gatwick's largest resident airline operator.

    Scheduled services
    As part of a major scheduled service expansion, Air Europe launched a new business class in 1988. This was accompanied by an increase in frequencies on most of its scheduled European trunk routes. It also introduced a new, dedicated "scheduled service aircraft type" from late 1989 onwards.