TUI Airways

[Kevin Farnell]

I guess aircraft will get swapped around to take into account such things as delays. I'm not sure whether they can swap crews as the training from -800 to MAX may have changed significantly since Boeing's initial plans.

Kevin

 

[Matt995]

TUI are still short of aircraft, still a fair few of their B738s are still on lease with Sunwing, no doubt they will be back in the next few weeks, new Max G-TUMM entered service today at LGW, & I believe they still have 2 more Max's to be delivered for Summer yet. The Max's have been flying from a few regional airports in the last few days, current 3 based at BHX, it will settle down once they have all the aircraft back at their disposal!

 

[rollo]

TUI seem to be moving a heck of a lot of aircraft around the UK over recent days.

From BHX todays 737s to Cardiff, Exeter and Doncaster plus a 788 to Glasgow. For some reason BHX having sent a Max to Cardiff received a Max back from them. Yesterday saw two 788s positioning to Gatwick and Wednesday had a 788 and a 789 positioning in from Gatwick.

Also shown for today on the bhxmovementsblog are 737s positioning in from Skiathos, Corfu and Zakynthos although I guess these are aircraft returning empty at the start of the season so normal procedure

I've read elsewhere that TUI are temporarily short of aircraft waiting for delivery from Boeing, plus aircraft to come back from winter lease and summer leases not all yet on line.

All seem a real juggling act currently but on the plus side looking good for a really busy season after the last two years.

Information mainly via Ian's movementsblog

 

[Matt995]

brand new 737 Max G-TUMN currently inbound from Naples, first visit, only entered service on Sunday!

 

[Karl C]

Said plane pushed back for IBZ....then promptly returned to stand... oops

 

[thunderchild]

Most TUI flights seem to be suffering big delays at the moment and the positioning of the Dreamliners between bases is baffling. Must be a logistical nightmare.

 

[thunderchild]

TUI passengers fume in huge airport queue so big it snakes out the front door

Travel giant said the enormous line was caused by a delayed flight to Cape Verde and thanked customers for their 'patience'

www.birminghammail.co.uk

What was the issue with the Cape Verde flight? FR24 shows it delayed until tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

What was the issue with the Cape Verde flight? FR24 shows it delayed until tomorrow afternoon.

Are you referring to TOM740 to Boa Vista, due to depart at 06:30? FR24 is showing it as 'scheduled' and no delay showing on the official BHX website.

Kevin

 

[Karl C]

Today's SID flight with G-OBYF

 

[ROC10]

Today's SID flight with G-OBYF

Looks like bringing the 767 in hasn’t worked out. As noted above, TUI’s operations appear to have been pretty chaotic over the last week with endless positioning flights and swapping of aircraft. Some of that is to be expected due to it being the beginning of the season but I do think it’s been more extreme this year. They appear to be pretty short of aircraft - several are either still with Sunwing or are sitting idle having been returned/transferred from other TUI airlines. That combined with all of the well-known issues at airports, along with some tech aircraft here and there appears to have led to countless delays, etc.

 

[Matt995]

I believe Saturdays TOM704 to Sal due to be operated by G-OBYF was cancelled due to weather at Cape Verde, looks like the cloud base was around 200ft, so unless the airport is Cat III ILS equipped then the 767 would not have been able to land, so makes sense to delay it by 24hours, rather that divert to either Boa Vista or the Canary Islands, thus causing more hassle for passengers, finding hotels, and pilot/crew hours.


Sal Airport weather:-

METAR	UTC DATE/TIME
GVAC 072300Z 02015KT 9999 BKN014 OVC018 22/17 Q1015 NOSIG	2022-05-07 23:00:00
GVAC 072200Z 01017KT 9999 BKN014 BKN018 22/17 Q1015 NOSIG	2022-05-07 22:00:00
GVAC 072100Z 01018KT 9999 BKN014 BKN200 22/17 Q1015 NOSIG	2022-05-07 21:00:00
GVAC 072000Z 01016KT 9999 BKN014 BKN200 22/17 Q1014 NOSIG	2022-05-07 20:00:00
GVAC 071900Z 01017KT 9999 SCT013 BKN200 23/17 Q1013 NOSIG	2022-05-07 19:00:00
GVAC 071800Z 01018KT 9999 SCT013 BKN200 23/17 Q1012 NOSIG	2022-05-07 18:00:00
GVAC 071700Z 01019KT 9999 FEW013 BKN200 24/18 Q1012 NOSIG	2022-05-07 17:00:00
GVAC 071600Z 01019KT 9999 FEW013 BKN200 24/17 Q1013 NOSIG	2022-05-07 16:00:00
GVAC 071500Z 01018KT 9999 FEW013 BKN200 24/17 Q1014 NOSIG	2022-05-07 15:00:00
GVAC 071400Z 01018KT 9999 SCT014 24/17 Q1014 NOSIG	2022-05-07 14:00:00
GVAC 071300Z 01017KT 9999 BKN014 24/17 Q1015 NOSIG	2022-05-07 13:00:00
GVAC 071200Z 01016KT 9999 BKN014 SCT200 24/17 Q1016 NOSIG	2022-05-07 12:00:00
GVAC 071100Z 01015KT 9999 BKN014 SCT200 23/17 Q1016 NOSIG	2022-05-07 11:00:00
GVAC 071000Z 02013KT 9999 BKN014 SCT200 22/17 Q1016 NOSIG	2022-05-07 10:00:00
GVAC 070900Z 02014KT 9999 BKN014 SCT200 22/17 Q1016 NOSIG	2022-05-07 09:00:00
GVAC 070800Z 01014KT 9999 SCT014 SCT200 21/18 Q1015 NOSIG	2022-05-07 08:00:00
GVAC 070700Z 02013KT 9999 SCT014 SCT200 21/18 Q1015 NOSIG	2022-05-07 07:00:00

 

[rollo]

Todays Tui juggling act looks like ÷

763 to Gatwick
788 from Gatwick to Melbourne (Orlando)
763 from Paris Euro-Atlantic operating the delayed Sal
757? From Stansted

The flight schedulers earning their wages.

Back to the sun bed.

 

[Matt995]

B738's G-TAWO, and G-TAWP have returned back from Sunwing lease, but have not yet re-entered service, still at Brussels & St Athans, whilst G-TAWD & G-TAWN are still in Canada, and the extra 2 leased Sunwing B738s C-FJVE & C-FWGH should be arriving in the UK in the next week, which just leaves 2 737 Maxs, G-TUMP & G-TUMW to join the fleet this month.

 

[rollo]

The TUI shuffle in full swing today.

789 position in from Manchester.
788 from Melbourne to Glasgow.
788 from Cancun to Newcastle.
789 from Espargos to Manchester.
763 CS-TST position to Lisbon.
737 position in from Verona.

That's how it looks at 10.00 a.m.

Information from bhxmovementsblog

 

[mullion]

CS-TST might as well have come strait to MAN it arrived here at about 09.30

 

[Kevin Farnell]

It does seem odd that it flew BHX - LIS on the 10 May and then LIS - MAN on the 11 May with no flight in between. So unless it was for maintenance or crew change, I can't understand why it didn't just position BHX - MAN.

Kevin

 

[rollo]

Todays efforts ÷

A 788 and a789 position in from Gatwick with a 737H positioning up to Glasgow.

As for CS-TST as the Beach Boys song goes "God only knows"

 

[ROC10]

It does seem odd that it flew BHX - LIS on the 10 May and then LIS - MAN on the 11 May with no flight in between. So unless it was for maintenance or crew change, I can't understand why it didn't just position BHX - MAN.

Kevin

I’m assuming a last minute need from TUI - their ops appear to have been pretty chaotic recently, don’t seem to be coping at all since the summer season started and it’s only very early in the season.

 

[rollo]

After a few days of relative calm the TUI shuffle from BHX seems up and running again with 787s turn today info from bhxmovementsblog.

789 position in from MAN.
788 from Cancun position to Newcastle.
788 from Melbourne also position to Newcastle.

Not really sure that two 788 to Newcastle is actually correct as normally only a single operates from there. I've checked Newcastle departures only one long haul shows today to Cancun although their are a few longish flights Canaries/Greece.

Also from elsewhere TUI are still awaiting seven 737s from various sources plus having two 787s stuck in maintenance which seems odd to say the least given peak season is rapidly approaching.

 

[Karl C]

You know I was thinking about all this kerfuffle the other day. I had a seamless trip to/from Lanzarote recently with Tui. However thinking back the rot for Tui seems to have set in when Tui bought Thomson many years ago. Rot seems a harsh word, but their race to the bottom and corner cutting and market retraction started then I think. Big mistake (imho) was to get rid of the Lunn Poly brand. Then the various TUIfly/Thomson/Tui brands....less and less representatives abroad...charging more for seemingly the same thing or less (normal for companies I know) and just the general same thing every year rinse and repeat.
I used to think that Thomson was unbeatable when I worked in the travel industry. Not really these days. TUI have taken the magic and star leadership they once had and chucked it in the bin.
I still prefer them to Jet2 by a long mile, but just personal preference after time and again bad experiences with Jet2. Don't get me started on where they place their new builds....BHX down to just one at the moment....go figure.
There needs to be a general spicing up of the holiday experience. The constant price gouging and lack of putting the customer first instead of shareholders needs to change. One can but hope that coming out of a global pandemic, they might put their thinking caps on and try a new avenue whilst trying to emerge/survive. Emerge/survive a slightly different way!!

Just a few thoughts running around my head this morning.....

Oh.....and BHX needs a few more new route announcements too...stat.

All the best everyone

Karl