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 2007
Focus cities
Frequent-flyer program none[note 1]
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.

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with Eurowings and Germanwings (the Lufthansa low-cost brands) into a joint and independent holding company, but were withdrawn as talks turned out to be unsuccessful.[3]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]

In September 2014, TUIfly decided to relocate their operations at Zweibrücken Airport to nearby Saarbrücken Airport as Zweibrücken Airport faces bankruptcy and an uncertain future.[8]

In January 2016, TUIfly announced to leave Hamburg Airport entirely due to the increasing competition from low-cost carriers. While the summer seasonal routes will not resume, all remaining destinations will be cancelled by March 2016.[9]

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.[10]

Destinations

A TUIfly Boeing 737-700 in the former standard livery
A former TUIfly Boeing 737-300 in Halle an der Saale special livery
A TUIfly Boeing 737-800 wearing the Haribo special livery
Cabin of a TUIfly Boeing 737-800

TUIfly offers year-round and seasonal flights to destinations in Europe, Africa, and Asia.[11] The airline serves the following destinations as of July 2015:

Operated for Atlantic Star Airlines

Saint Helena St Helena
United Kingdom United Kingdom

Africa

Cape Verde Cape Verde
Egypt Egypt
Morocco Morocco
Tunisia Tunisia

Middle East

Israel Israel
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates

Europe

Austria Austria
Croatia Croatia
Germany Germany
Greece Greece
Finland Finland
Italy Italy
Kosovo Kosovo
Malta Malta
Portugal Portugal
Spain Spain
Sweden Sweden
Switzerland Switzerland


Turkey Turkey

Fleet

TUIfly Boeing 737-800

As of December 2015, the TUIfly fleet consists of the following aircraft:[14]

TUIfly fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
P E Total
Boeing 737-700 6 — — 144 144 all operated for Air Berlin
Boeing 737-800 32 — — 189 189 8 operated for Air Berlin, 1 to be operated for Atlantic Star Airlines
Boeing 767-300ER 2 — — 291 291 1 operated for Eurowings, 1 operated for Condor
Total 40 —

Citations

Notes

  1. ↑ Both of TUIfly's former frequent-flyer programs, FriendChips and its predecessor Bluemiles, have been discontinued.

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. ↑ http://www.airliners.de/tuifly-erhaelt-erste-boeing-737-im-neuen-design/31531
  8. ↑ http://ch-aviation.com/portal/news/31189-germanys-tuifly-to-close-zweibrcken-base-in-november
  9. 1 2 ch-aviation.com - TUIfly to end Hamburg operations over LCC threat 13 January 2016
  10. ↑ "In the air." TUIfly. Retrieved on 28 April 2009.
  11. ↑ All Destinations from TUIfly's website
  12. ↑ "TUI fly inaugurates TLV - MUC flights".
  13. ↑ http://www.touristik-aktuell.de/nachrichten/verkehr/news/datum/2014/09/15/tui-fly-mehr-saarbruecken-und-karlsruhebaden-baden-fuer-2015/
  14. ↑ ch-aviation.com - TUIfly (Germany) retrieved 19 December 2015

External links

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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