TUI Airways

TUI Airways Limited,[5] (formerly Thomson Airways) and often referred to just as TUI, is a British charter airline, offering scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. The airline is the world's largest charter airline, carrying 11.8 million passengers in 2019. It is also the fourth-largest UK airline by total passengers carried, after EasyJet, British Airways and Jet2.com. TUI Airways is also the world's tenth-largest airline by number of route pairings served.[6] Its UK and associated regional arm is TUI Airways Limited which 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.

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

TUI Airways
IATA ICAO Callsign
BY[1] TOM TOMJET
FoundedDecember 1, 1961 (as Euravia)[2]
Commenced operationsNovember 1, 2005 (Thomsonfly)
October 2, 2017 (TUI Airways)
AOC #294
Operating bases
Fleet size56
Destinations96
Parent companyTUI Group
HeadquartersWigmore House, Luton[3]
Key peopleDawn Wilson (Managing Director)
Employees10,000 (the entire operation in the UK and Ireland) [4]
Websitetui.co.uk

History

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 AG 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 brought 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]

767-300ER in the former Thomson branded "Dynamic Wave" livery

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, 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]

Rebrand

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]

Corporate affairs

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 sister companies TUI fly Belgium, TUI fly Deutschland, TUI fly Netherlands and TUI fly Nordic.

Head office
Wigmore House, the head office of TUI Airways near Luton

The airline's head office is in the Wigmore House near Luton, Bedfordshire.[22] The facility is adjacent to Luton Airport.[23]

Business figures
YearTotal passengersTotal flightsLoad factorPassenger Change (YoY)
2005* 15,501,61682,91388.6%
2006* 15,134,69983,55688.4%02.4%
2007* 15,018,97382,36089.1%00.8%
2008 12,234,61865,34891.1%018.5%
2009 11,238,77459,19590.2%08.1%
2010 10,965,11156,52289.9%02.4%
2011 11,049,28857,71389.3%00.8%
2012 10,703,33854,37292.0%03.1%
2013 10,548,95254,92692.4%01.4%
2014 10,366,95954,25793.0%01.7%
2015 10,611,17553,86993.8%02.4%
2016 10,942,65155,29594.1%03.1%
2017 11,254,42957,69893.5%02.9%
2018 11,167,287 58,397 92.8% 0.7%
2019 11,817,783 60,633 92.9% 5.8%
* Data for 2005 to 2007 includes First Choice Airways
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority [6]

Destinations
Main article: List of TUI Airways 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,[24] Dublin,[25] Helsinki,[26] Oslo[27] and Stockholm.[28]

Fleet
A TUI Airways Boeing 737-800
A TUI Airways Boeing 737 MAX 8
A TUI Airways Boeing 757-200
A TUI Airways Boeing 787-8

Current fleet

As of December 2020, the TUI Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft:[29]

TUI Airways fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
P Y Total
Boeing 737-800 30 8 — 189 189
Boeing 737 MAX 8 6 3 — 189 189 All aircraft stored due to international groundings.
Boeing 737 MAX 10 — 14 TBA [30]
Boeing 757-200 4 — — 221 221 To be replaced with Boeing 737 MAX 10s from early 2021.[31]
Boeing 767-300ER 2 — — 328 328 To be replaced with Boeing 787-9s in early 2021.[31]
Boeing 787-8 8 — 47 253 300
Boeing 787-9 6 — 63 282 345
Total 56 25

Historical fleet

TUI Airways formerly operated the following aircraft:

TUI Airways historical fleet
Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
Airbus A320-200 5 2008 2012 Inherited from First Choice Airways
Airbus A321-200 2 2008 2013
Boeing 737-300 7 2008 2012 Inherited from Thomsonfly

Incidents and accidents

References
  1. "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". Iata.org. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  2. "Thomson Airways Limited - Filing History". Companies House.
  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 Archived 10 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  12. "THOMSON CRUISES UNVEILS PLANS FOR NEW SHIP DISCOVERY - TUITravel Media Centre - Thomson". 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. "TUI Group to rebrand five airlines as 'TUI' | Finance & Data content from ATWOnline". 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. "GINFO Search Results". Civil Aviation Authority. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  23. "Wigmore House". Duncan-Welch & Co. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  24. "Only Flight". tui.dk.
  25. "Flight Timetable". TUI Holidays.
  26. "Only Flight".
  27. "Only Flight". tui.no.
  28. "Only Flight". tui.se.
  29. "United Kingdom Civil Aircraft Register". Civil Aviation Authority. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  30. "TUI fly krijgt naast B737 MAX8 ook vier MAX10's in de vloot". Flightlevel.be. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  31. "TUI Group to simplify fleet, mulls more B737 MAX 10s". Ch-aviation.com. 25 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  32. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/by6215#2551719d
  33. https://www.bbc.com/news/coronavirus&link_location=live-reporting-story

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