TUI Airways

[SNOWMAN]

severn
i am only interested on what t.u.i fly out of lba, not how many extra flights from dsa bristol etc, they tui have pi***d off there customers that want to use the local airport,you cannot book a tui holliday without wondering if it will be pulled to fill a flight from elsewhere this has gone on for years.
sm

 

[White Heather]

Strange that the only two airports seeing a reduction are both AMP Capital airports - and in the case of LTN, TUI UKs home base.

I totally accept that in parts of the UK, TUi are still the major player, but that does little to pacify those of us who remember Britannia as our own main tour operator, with based aircraft, and promises of expansion, only to see them disappear down the A1following the takeover by TUi, leaving LBA with next to nothing. Several years of slow improvement, culminating with the based aircraft (albeit Sunwing) then come to yet another abrupt end, apparently because TUi cannot compete with Jet2. Quite an admission really for such a large operator, but as far as its LBA customer base is concerned, they must now be considered to be a very risky booking indeed if you have any wish to fly from LBA. It will be interesting to see if we retain the other flights into LBA on W Legs this summer, bearing in mind two of them were scheduled to be operated by the currently grounded 737 Max.

 

[paully]

One has only to look round the portals of social media to see that Tui have a terrible reputation for customer service..maybe the good folks of Yorkshire have had a close shave..I suspect their better loads in the south west might be more to do with less choice..

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I suspect their better loads in the south west might be more to do with less choice..

BRS is a base for 3 Thomas Cook A320s/321s, 16 easyJet 319s/320s and 4 Ryanair B789s (plus the equivalent of 2/3 others from other Ryanair bases), as well as 4 TUI B789s and a B 787-8 5 days a week. That's a fair amount of choice.

 

[Jerry]

Maybe from TUIs point of view the LBA market is too saturated with the strength of Jet2 and Ryanair and they feel with their bases at MAN, NCL and DSA and EMA the area is covered and that basing at LBA doesn't make them money.

 

[paully]

BRS is a base for 3 Thomas Cook A320s/321s, 16 easyJet 319s/320s and 4 Ryanair B789s (plus the equivalent of 2/3 others from other Ryanair bases), as well as 4 TUI B789s and a B 787-8 5 days a week. That's a fair amount of choice.

Indeed, although just one airport in that part of the world, nevertheless it doesn't alter the national complaints about them..sad for those affected, wherever they come from

 

[Seasider]

I once was a great Thomson fan and have had only one bad experience in 2005 when they were trying to be a LCC from DSA. Since then I have been very careful where I book from, and where to. Fortunately, since 2005 Jet2 have expanded and with Jet2 Holidays, offer far more choice and flexibility (short haul) than TUI do from any of their airports. They are stuck in the mindset of 7/14 night holidays with a few 10/11 night ones, where people nowadays (mainly because of LCC) want anything from 3 to 21 night holidays.
If the B737 max problems do not get sorted quickly, they may find that they will struggle to deliver the holidays booked and lose customer confidence.

 

[White Heather]

Maybe from TUIs point of view the LBA market is too saturated with the strength of Jet2 and Ryanair and they feel with their bases at MAN, NCL and DSA and EMA the area is covered and that basing at LBA doesn't make them money.

That's about right Jerry, but who would have imagined that a company that size would give up so easily? They are just not up for the fight because (as we know) they have no real commitment to LBA, and their expansion is always half hearted. We can never trust that what they put on sale will actually fly - previous posts on this very thread show that very well. I am sure that the views of members on here are mirrored by the people out in the street.
Down at DSA, there is no Jet2 for them to worry about. In fact they virtually have the airport to themselves at times with the odd Flybe or Wizzair, who are serving different markets. All that said, LBA is serving the UKs 3rd biggest city, and Bradford, another major city in the UK top 10, and all of West Yorkshire and much of North Yorkshire, but they clearly don't think it worthwhile putting in the effort to fight back.

What all of this does show of course is that our own Jet2 has seriously rattled the traditional tour operator market here at LBA, and I suspect they will do so at other airports too over time.

 

[Len Fish]

Yes, TUI’s retreat from LBA is a tribute to the success of Jet2 at LBA. Jet2 saw the opportunity and have never looked back. Can’t help feeling that the traditional operators like TUI and Thomas Cook were too complacent about their domination of the market which allowed a new competitor to sneak in behind them.

 

[oldendays]

Whilst I applaud Jet2's success, I still have an uncomfortable feeling that the bubble could burst at any moment, given the company's rapid expansion. This would not be at all good for Leeds Bradford or the local economy. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen.

I'm still puzzled that TUI and Thomas Cook scarcely feel able to compete with Jet2 at LBA, yet they have (often substantial) operations from the likes of Newcastle, Birmingham and East Midlands alongside Jet2. I wonder what the effect on TUI and Thomas Cook would be if Jet2 were to invade the southwest strongholds of these companies, perhaps at Cardiff or Exeter. I'm not sure Bristol would have the space.

 

[Jerry]

What all of this does show of course is that our own Jet2 has seriously rattled the traditional tour operator market here at LBA, and I suspect they will do so at other airports too over time.

If you look at other airports TUI do seem to coexist with Jet2 quite well for the most part. As far as I know they haven't reduced the short haul side at other airports where Jet2 are, it just seems to be LBA that they struggle at.
I wonder as well in what have the LBA management done to secure an all year round base with at least 2 aircraft in the summer?

 

[Bigman]

How does the advert go? dot the i's, cross the Pennines and put you in the (fill in the last word as you feel fit!!).

 

[a300boy]

They decided Doncaster is the airport for their Yorkshire operations some time ago and they have never liked Lba for all the runway and weather related issues we have.
We are stuck with two main airlines of which one is reluctant to expand operations and the other still expanding a little but removing the 757 fleet to its new favourite airport.
Lets see what happens next I have seen somewhere that all New York operation next winter will be operated by A330 aircraft except at Lba so another big miss for us.
I wonder why that would be ?

 

[White Heather]

They decided Doncaster is the airport for their Yorkshire operations some time ago and they have never liked Lba for all the runway and weather related issues we have.
We are stuck with two main airlines of which one is reluctant to expand operations and the other still expanding a little but removing the 757 fleet to its new favourite airport.
Lets see what happens next I have seen somewhere that all New York operation next winter will be operated by A330 aircraft except at Lba so another big miss for us.
I wonder why that would be ?

Frankly the statistics don't support that argument A300boy. LBA diversions this year have been minimal and some other airports have suffered equally or worse. The runway might not be ideal but Jet2 deal with it just fine as do Ryanair and some other airlines. If all airlines boycotted an airport because they didn't like the runway or surrounding terrain, or weather conditions, then there would be no flights at all at some airports. For example Gibraltar. Or Funchal. Even Tenerife South has a high number of wind shear related go arounds and even diverts due to the peculiarities of the weather on that island. It doesn't stop them operating there.
As for Jet2 removing the 757s to MAN, this is nothing to do with MAN being its new favourite airport. Far from it. The maintenance facilities for the 757 are at MAN and lets face it, they are all at or around the 30 years old mark so need tender loving care on a regular basis to keep them operational for a few more years. It makes sense (although it is disappointing from our LBA point of view) for them to live where they can easily be maintained. The average fleet age at MAN will increase dramatically when this happens and ours will reduce. On the plus side here, they will take up less of our precious apron space.
As for New York and the A330, wait and see what happens when the terminal development is completed. LBA cannot accommodate a wide body aircraft easily at the present time due to the lack of space, facilities and all the rest. The terminal extension will permit wide body operations. We already know the A330 can use LBA's runway so that won't stop it. Don't assume these decisions are all made by the airline without discussion/consultation with the airport management.

 

[a300boy]

Never assumed anything but the trend towards Manchester as the golden egg is obvious and understandable.
I have seen this several times in my time in the industry Wardair PIA BA are examples so let’s see what happens.
It’s great you are so pro the Lbia management team and believe in them but they keep leaving without notification. I wish I had your faith in them but I don’t sadly.

 

[LBA4EVER]

I will say it again, the runway is and always will be the problem, say what you want but its fact! its so obvious, its nothing to do with mancs nearby. If the runway was lengthened and ils / touchdown points sorted then im sure Lba would be a 8 million passenger plus airport .

 

[a300boy]

Agree on the runway problem but Manchester has a massive part in sucking passengers away too !
It’s sales team are aggressive well funded and target this area amongst others and seem pretty effective.
That’s the way it is and our management team don’t stay long enough to discuss the problem so I don’t see how things will change.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I will say it again, the runway is and always will be the problem, say what you want but its fact! its so obvious, its nothing to do with mancs nearby. If the runway was lengthened and ils / touchdown points sorted then im sure Lba would be a 8 million passenger plus airport .

Bristol's overall runway length is 2011 metres compared with I think 2250 metres at LBA. BRS (8.7 mppa in 2018) has similar weather problems being stuck nearly as high into the clouds as LBA. I don't claim to have any technical expertise and one question I have is whether the LBA runway direction is the main culprit: BRS's is east-west or as near as makes little difference.

 

[a300boy]

Yes the runway direction is relevant and no displaced thresholds at Bristol plus a lower altitude above sea level all make the difference.
Tui seem to have cornered a market at Bristol and offer a good variety of long and short haul destinations.
Good luck to Bristol and Tui I would just like to know what they have to say about Lba operations and why they moved operations to Doncaster with its 10000 ft runway into wind at almost sea level.

 

[Finger66]

Irony, sarcasm and something else respelt TRUTH. Great post a300boy