TUIfly

This article is about the German airline. For the organization of airlines of the TUI Group, see TUI Airlines.
TUIfly
IATA ICAO Callsign
X3 TUI TUI JET
Founded 1972
(as Hapag-Lloyd Flug)
2007
(as TUIfly)
Focus cities
Alliance TUI Airlines
Fleet size 40
Destinations 39
Parent company TUI Group
Headquarters Langenhagen, Germany
Key people Klaus Wellmann, CEO
Website tuifly.com

TUIfly[1] is a German leisure airline owned by the travel and tourism company TUI Group. It is headquartered at Hannover Airport[2] with bases at several other German airports. TUIfly is part of the TUI Airlines.

History

TUIfly head office in Hannover

Formation

The airline was formed in 2007 by the merger of Hapag Lloyd Flug and Hapag Lloyd Express as a branch of TUI Travel. The airline codes of its predecessor are still in use, and the former callsign YELLOWCAB remained in use until it was changed to TUIJET on 24 September 2010.

In the second quarter of 2007, the load factor was at about 79%, after about 92% in the year before. Subsequently, the company closed its Leipzig/Halle and Bremen bases. On 29 January 2008, plans were announced to merge TUIfly with Eurowings and Germanwings (the Lufthansa low-cost brands) into a joint and independent holding company, but were withdrawn as talks turned out to be unsuccessful.[3]

TUI Travel confirmed on 27 March 2009 that it had sealed a strategic partnership with Air Berlin that would see Tui Travel take a 20% stake in Air Berlin, and Air Berlin 20% in TUIfly. Due to regulatory matters, this was changed to 9.9%.[4] Air Berlin will also wet-lease 17 aircraft from TUIfly and take over all of TUIfly's city connections. TUI will focus on serving the charter market with 21 aircraft of the remaining fleet.[5] From 25 October 2009, all German domestic flights previously operated by TUIfly were taken over by Air Berlin, as well as all flights to Austria, Italy and Croatia.[6] Most of these flights are still operated by TUIfly aircraft, but are marketed by Air Berlin.

Development since 2013

In December 2013, TUIfly abandoned their distinctive yellow livery and replaced it by the new blue design already introduced at Arkefly, Jetairfly and Thomson Airways. The first plane in the new colours arrived in Hannover on 17 February 2014.[7] The livery has been updated once again, as of 2016, with new revised titles shortened from "TUIfly" to "TUI".[8][9]

In September 2014, TUIfly decided to relocate their operations at Zweibrücken Airport to nearby Saarbrücken Airport as Zweibrücken Airport faced bankruptcy and an uncertain future.[10] In January 2016, TUIfly also announced to leave Hamburg Airport entirely due to the increasing competition from low-cost carriers. The summer seasonal routes have not resumed, and all remaining destinations were cancelled by March 2016.[11]

In September 2016 plans have been announced to merge TUIfly into a new company together with the leisure operations of Air Berlin - which are currently partially operated by TUIfly - as well as Air Berlin's entire Austrian subsidiary Niki.[12] This move faced heavy criticism by labour unions as the new company would be based in Austria, therefore neglecting German labour contracts. Therefore, in early October 2016, TUIfly reported unexpected crew shortages due to heavily increased sick notes from crews.[13] On 5 October 2016, TUIfly confirmed to be in talks with Air Berlin and Etihad Airways to create a new holding company for leisure operations. The new company is planned serve important holiday destinations from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[14] In November 2016, the TUI board of directors agreed to merge TUIfly with Air Berlin's Austrian subsdiary Niki under a new joint-venture with Etihad Airways.[15]

Operations

TUIfly offers both charter and scheduled flights with about 60% of all seats are sold directly, 30% as a part of a TUI holiday package and 10% by other agencies.

All flights within Germany and other non-tourist destinations are operated on behalf of Air Berlin with Air Berlin's service concept. TUIfly itself offers free drinks, snacks, and meals on flights to and from Cape Verde, Egypt, Greece, Israel, southern Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain including the Canary Islands, and Tunisia. Hot meals are served on the longest flights, including those to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Egypt, and Madeira.[16]

Destinations

Main article: TUIfly destinations

Fleet

TUIfly Boeing 737-800

As of November 2016, the TUIfly fleet consists of the following aircraft:[17]

TUIfly fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
P E Total
Boeing 737-700 4 — 0 148 148 wet-leased to Air Berlin[18]
Boeing 737-800 35 — 0 189 189 9 wet-leased to Air Berlin[18]
Boeing 767-300ER 1 —
Total 40 —

References

  1. ↑ "STCC TRANSAVIA." TUIfly. Retrieved on 16 February 2011.
  2. ↑ "Contact." TUIfly. Retrieved on 12 May 2009. "Address: TUIfly Vermarktungs GmbH Karl-Wiechert-Allee 23 30625 Hannover Germany Address Airline TUIfly: TUIfly GmbH Flughafenstraße 10 30855 Langenhagen"
  3. ↑ "Announcement of TUI AG". Tui-group.com. 2008. Retrieved 2012-08-12.
  4. ↑ "Air Berlin information on taking over TUIfly routes". AirBerlin.com. Retrieved 2012-08-12.
  5. ↑ http://www.tuitravelplc.com/tuitravel/media/press/?ref=58[]
  6. ↑ "TUIfly information on flights taken over by Air Berlin". Tuifly.com. Retrieved 2012-08-12.
  7. ↑ "TUIfly erhält erste Boeing 737 im neuen Design". airliners.de. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  8. ↑ https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1629/24800528415_c456502a26_c.jpg
  9. ↑ https://www.tuifly.com/downloads/Logo_blauer_Hintergrund.png
  10. ↑ "Germany's TUIfly to close Zweibrücken base in November". ch-aviation.com. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  11. ↑ ch-aviation.com - TUIfly to end Hamburg operations over LCC threat 13 January 2016
  12. ↑ handelsblatt.com - "TUI plans joint ops with Berlin's crisis airline" (German) 30 September 2016
  13. ↑ tagesspiegel.de - "Crew shortage at Partner TUIfly" 3 October 2016
  14. ↑ aero.de - "Air Berlin in talks with TUIfly over merger of tourism branch" (German) 5 October 2016
  15. ↑ tagesschau.de - "TUI-board for merger" (German) 23 November 2016
  16. ↑ "In the air." TUIfly. Retrieved on 28 April 2009.
  17. ↑ planespotters.net - TUIfly Fleet Details and History retrieved 27 November 2016
  18. 1 2 ch-aviation.com - Air Berlin ends in-house B737 operations 2 November 2016

Media related to TUIfly at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 52°27′29″N 9°42′28″E / 52.45806°N 9.70778°E / 52.45806; 9.70778

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