TUI Airways

This article is about the British airline. For its sister companies, see TUI Group § TUI Multinational Airlines.

TUI Airways Limited^[5] (formerly Thomson Airways) is the British arm of the TUI Airline group, which is owned and operated by the TUI Group. They offer scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.

TUI Airways Limiter

IATA ICAO Callsign BY^[1] TOM TOMJET
Founded	1 December 1961; 62 years ago (1961-12-01) (as Euravia)
Commenced operations	2 October 2017; 6 years ago (2017-10-02) (as TUI Airways)
AOC #	294
Operating bases	List of bases Belfast–International Birmingham Bournemouth Bristol Cardiff Dublin East Midlands Exeter Glasgow London–Gatwick London–Luton London–Stansted Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne Norwich
Fleet size	69^[2]
Destinations	96
Parent company	TUI Group
Headquarters	Wigmore House, Luton, England^[3]
Key people	Dawn Wilson (COO)
Employees	10,000 (the entire operation in the UK and Ireland) ^[4]
Website	www.tui.co.uk

The airline is the fourth-largest UK airline by total passengers carried, after EasyJet, British Airways and Jet2.com. It is also the world's tenth-largest airline by number of route pairings served.^[6] TUI Airways holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Type A Operating Licence permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. Its head office and Registered Office is Wigmore House in Luton, Bedfordshire.

History

 

A former Thomson branded Boeing 767-300ER in "Dynamic Wave" livery (2013).

 

A TUI Airways Boeing 787-8 on approach in Phuket (2019).

Foundation and early years

TUI Airways has its origins in several rival airlines. Euravia (later renamed Britannia Airways in December 1964.^[7]), an airline which was founded in January 1962.^[8] Orion Airways, founded in 1979 by Horizon Holidays and later owned by the large brewing firm Bass Brewery and InterContinental Hotels Group, was sold and merged with Britannia Airways in 1989 but retained the Britannia name. (These events happened before TUI came to the UK.) Britannia was rebranded to Thomsonfly in May 2005 as their parent company Thomson Travel Group were bought by TUI Group as part of a wider reorganisation of TUI's operations in the UK.^[9] The other airline, Air 2000 that was founded in 1987, and which integrated the operations of Leisure International Airways in 1998. They became First Choice Airways in 2004 after being bought by First Choice and became their in-house airline.^[10]

Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways merged following the merger of the travel divisions of TUI Group and First Choice Holidays in September 2007. The Thomson Airways brand was launched for the combined airline on 1 November 2008.^[11]

The new brand retained the Thomsonfly colour scheme, and aircraft in the fleet were gradually repainted. Several First Choice Airways aircraft remained in the First Choice livery as they were due to be phased out of service. A new livery, named "Dynamic Wave" (which will also be applied on Thomson Cruises ships), was introduced in May 2012.^[12]

TUI Airways became the first UK airline to take delivery of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, receiving the first aircraft in May 2013.^[13] Passenger services with the aircraft began on 21 June 2013 with a flight between London Gatwick and Menorca.^[14] Also in 2013, the parent group TUI Travel, now known as TUI Group, ordered 70 Boeing 737 MAX for delivery to group airlines.^[15]

Rebranding and latest developments

On 13 May 2015, it was announced by the TUI Group that all five of TUI's airline subsidiaries would be named TUI, whilst keeping their separate Air Operators Certificate, a process taking over three years to complete. TUI Airways was the last airline to be completed in late 2017.^[16] The rebrand began in mid-2016, with the addition of the new 'TUI' titles to its fleet.^[17][18]

In December 2016, Thomson Holidays launched their final television advertisement using the 'Thomson' brand, before integrating into the 'TUI' brand.^[19] During the rebrand in 2017, the "TOMSON" callsign was dropped and replaced with "TUI AIR" and then changed again to "TOMJET".^[20]

In May 2017, the brand TUI Airways began to be used in several areas and was implemented on all flight tracker applications. Most of the aircraft had been branded with 'TUI' titles, and onboard items such as glasses and napkins carried the new brand. Thomson Airways officially changed its legal name to TUI Airways on 2 October 2017.^[5] TUI's sister company, TUI UK (formerly Thomson Holidays), has ceased using the 'Thomson' brand, adopting the TUI UK brand on 18 October 2017.^[21]

In November 2023, TUI Airways retired their last Boeing 767 as the sole remaining passenger operator in the United Kingdom.^[22]

Corporate affairs

 

Wigmore House, the head office of TUI Airways near Luton

Head office

The airline's head office is in the Wigmore House near Luton, Bedfordshire.^[23] The facility is adjacent to Luton Airport.^[24]

Overview

The airline is part of a single-branded group, being the product of two mergers: the travel division of TUI Group with First Choice Holidays in September 2007 to form TUI Travel, under which their respective airlines, Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways, were merged under the former's Air Operator's Certificate in May 2008 and rebranded as Thomson Airways on 1 November 2008. The investable enterprise and overall leadership formally merged with TUI to form London (LSE) and Frankfurt (DAX) listed TUI Group since December 2014. TUI Airways officially changed its legal name from Thomson Airways to TUI Airways on 2 October 2017.^[5] This was in line with TUI Airline sister companies TUI fly Belgium, TUI fly Deutschland, TUI fly Netherlands and TUI fly Nordic.

Business figures

Year	Total passengers (m)	Total flights (k)	Load factor	Passenger Change (YoY)
2005*	15.5	82.9	88.6%
2006*	15.1	83.5	88.4%	02.4%
2007*	15.0	82.3	89.1%	00.8%
2008	12.2	65.3	91.1%	018.5%
2009	11.2	59.1	90.2%	08.1%
2010	10.9	56.5	89.9%	02.4%
2011	11.0	57.7	89.3%	00.8%
2012	10.7	54.3	92.0%	03.1%
2013	10.5	54.9	92.4%	01.4%
2014	10.3	54.2	93.0%	01.7%
2015	10.6	53.8	93.8%	02.4%
2016	10.9	55.2	94.1%	03.1%
2017	11.2	57.6	93.5%	02.9%
2018	11.1	58.3	92.8%	0.7%
2019	11.8	60.6	92.9%	5.8%
2020	2.0	10.6	88.0%	82.9%
2021	2.0	13.8	73.9%	0.2%
2022	11.2	61.2	88.6%	458.6%
^* Data for 2005 to 2007 includes First Choice AirwaysSource: UK Civil Aviation Authority [6]

Destinations

Most scheduled flights operated by TUI Airways are on behalf of tour operators. The airline offers flights to destinations around the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean from 19 base airports in the United Kingdom. Additionally, seasonal charter routes are served from Copenhagen,^[25] Dublin,^[26] Helsinki,^[27] Oslo^[28] and Stockholm.^[29]

Fleet

Current fleet

As of April 2024, TUI Airways operates an all-Boeing fleet composed of the following aircraft:^[30][31]

TUI Airways Ltd fleet

Aircraft	In service	Orders	Passengers			Notes
			P	Y	Total
Boeing 737-800	30	3^[citation needed]	–	189	189
Boeing 737 MAX 8	19	12^[citation needed]
Boeing 737 MAX 10	—	18^[32]	TBA			Deliveries delayed due to certification issues.^[33]
Boeing 787-8	8	—	47	253	300
			–	325	325
Boeing 787-9	5	—	63	282	345
Total	62	32

Seasonal leasing

In 2023, TUI Group and Enter Air agreed to set up a Joint venture wet-lease ACMI operator called Fly4. The Irish based airline, which is set to take off in spring 2024, will take on three TUI Airways Boeing 737-800s plus one from TUI fly Belgium, and lease them back to TUI Airways during the peak summer seasons. These aircraft will then be leased to other airlines during the winter schedule when TUI operations are not at high demand.^[34]

TUI had previously leased multiple Airbus A320-200 aircraft for the summer 2023 season to cover for the delay in Boeing 737 MAX deliveries.^[35]

Historical fleet

TUI Airways formerly operated the following aircraft:^[31]

TUI Airways historical fleet

Aircraft	Total	Introduced	Retired	Notes
Airbus A320-200	5	2009	2012	Inherited from First Choice Airways
Airbus A321-200	2	2009	2013	Inherited from First Choice Airways
Boeing 737-300	8	2008	2012	Inherited from Thomsonfly
Boeing 757-200	31	2008	2021	Inherited from Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways
Boeing 767-300ER	17	2008	2023	Last two remaining retired on 1 November 2023.^[36]

Accidents and Incidents

• On 20 October 2023, a TUI Airways Boeing 737-800, registration G-TAWD skidded off the runway while attempting to land at Leeds Bradford Airport in heavy rain caused by Storm Babet. No injuries were reported, but the airport subsequently closed while the aircraft was recovered. The airport reopened on 21 October 2023.^[37][38]

The aircraft, G-TAWD had remained at Leeds Bradford Airport for 11 days before flying out to Warsaw for repairs. It returned to TUI in December 2023 before being leased to Sunwing for the final lease agreement. The aircraft will return to TUI Airways service in April 2024

See also

• List of airlines of the United Kingdom

References

1. "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". Iata.org. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
2. https://www.planespotters.net/airline/TUI-Airways
3. "Aircraft registration - UK Civil Aviation Authority". Caa.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
4. "TUI UK Key Facts & Figures".
5. "TUI AIRWAYS LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". Beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
6. "UK Airline Data". UK Civil Aviation Authority. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
7. "Flight International article published 17 December 1964". Flightglobal.com. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
8. "Euravia (London) Ltd". Flightglobal.com. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
9. "Flights with TUI - Thomson now TUI Airways". Flights.thomson.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
10. "First Choice". Low Fare Flights. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
11. New Thomson Airways brand launched 10 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
12. . TUITravel Media Centre - Thomson. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
13. "Boeing Delivers Thomson Airways' First 787 Dreamliner". Manchester, UK: Boeing UK. 31 May 2013. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
14. "London Gatwick welcomes first 'hub-busting' Dreamliner (> Media Centre > News)". Gatwick Airport. 21 June 2013. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
15. "TUI shareholders approve 737 Max order". Flightglobal.com. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
16. . 11 June 2015. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015.
17. "ABCD". Travelweekly.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
18. "Thomson and First Choice to be axed as part of brand consolidation under TUI name". Marketingmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
19. Smithers, Rebecca (7 December 2016). "Thomson to launch final TV ad before Tui rebrand". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
20. "U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION : FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION : JO 7340.2G CHG 1 : Air Traffic Organization Policy" (PDF). Faa.gov. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
21. "Goodbye Thomson, hello TUI – how Germany beat Britain in the battle of the sunlounge". The Telegraph. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
22. aerotelegraph.com (German) 2 November 2023
23. "GINFO Search Results". Civil Aviation Authority. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
24. "Wigmore House". Duncan-Welch & Co. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
25. "Only Flight". tui.dk.
26. "Flight Timetable". TUI Holidays.
27. "Only Flight".
28. "Only Flight". tui.no.
29. "Only Flight". tui.se.
30. "United Kingdom Civil Aircraft Register". Civil Aviation Authority. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
31. "TUI Airways Fleet Details and History". Retrieved 17 November 2021.
32. Eiselin, Stefan (19 June 2017). "Tui wechselt auf die Boeing 737 Max 10". aeroTELEGRAPH (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 9 February 2024.
33. Jolly, Jasper (3 June 2020). "Tui and Boeing agree deal on 737 Max payout and delivery delays". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
34. Klisauskaite, Vyte (13 January 2024). "Airline Startup: New Airline Fly 4 Will Not Sell Its Own Tickets". Simple Flying. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
35. "TUI Airways NS23 A320 Operations – 22JAN23". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
36. Pearson, James (1 November 2023). "TUI Airways Retires The UK's Last Passenger Boeing 767s". Simple Flying. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
37. "Leeds Bradford Airport closed after plane skids off runway in storm". BBC News. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
38. "Incident Boeing 737-8K5 (WL) G-TAWD,". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 23 October 2023.

External links

  Media related to TUI Airways at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website