TUi Airways

[Jerry]

The only difference is that in 2022, on a Monday, a CWL based aircraft operated CWL-CFU-EXT-CFU-CWL (which took all day)

Well it looks like TUI have changed things back to Corfu doing a W pattern with Exeter. Antalya will now be operated by Freebird Airlines with a 10.00 departure from Cardiff.

 

[Jerry]

NEW ROUTE

TUI Airways - Cardiff to Sharm El Sheikh. Flights start 1 April 2024

CWL 1000-1625 SSH (Mon)

SSH 1725-2230 CWL (Mon)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1635898189713735681

 

[Tinkerman]

TUI are significantly up against it at BRS with competition from Jet2 at the minute (Jet 2 seem to be growing profusely, and have also recently taken TUI’s hotspot as the largest tour operator in the UK).

Potentially something to keep an eye on over the next season or two.

 

[CWL94]

TUI are significantly up against it at BRS with competition from Jet2 at the minute (Jet 2 seem to be growing profusely, and have also recently taken TUI’s hotspot as the largest tour operator in the UK).

Potentially something to keep an eye on over the next season or two.

I believe LS will be 7 based at BRS next summer which is pretty impressive just a few years into their operation there

 

[geoff]

I think that during the next couple of years, we will see an increase in TUI's presence in CWL. With BRS increasing all the time in passenger numbers and flight increases, the customer experience at BRS will not be very pleasant, they suffered badly last summer with passengers queueing outside the terminal, this maybe an advantage to CWL in the future.

 

[Jerry]

Just noticed that for some reason Sharm is only onsale for April 2024 so at the moment it's not a Summer 2024 route, hopefully it'll go onsale soon enough for the Summer 2024.

As for going beyond 3 based aircraft, would that require expansion in winter as well? Would going from 4 based aircraft too 1 in the winter be possible logistically?

 

[geoff]

The winter services at CWL are certainly in need of a boost, if TUI were not able to increase their winter offering at CWL, perhaps Ryanair could help with the reinstatement of Tenerife and keep Malaga year round as they have done with Faro.

 

[Jerry]

This is the schedule for winter 2023/24
Monday
10.00 Sharm el Sheikh (starts 1/4/24)
10.45 Tenerife South
Tuesday
06.50 Alicante
14.25 Tenerife South
13.45 Palma de Mallorca (starts 2/4/24 with away based aircraft)
Wednesday
11.10 Paphos (starts 28/2/24)
Thursday
10.30 Lanzarote
Friday
10.45 Tenerife South
Saturday
06.15 Alicante
13.45 Gran Canaria
Sunday
07.00 Malaga
14.55 Lanzarote

 

[Jerry]

Palma de Mallorca is 6 weekly with flights on Tuesdays (06.00 and 22.40), Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Is 6 weekly overkill for the route especially if an airline like Vueling (an airline they could book on) returned too or launched the route in 2024? At airports like Bristol and Glasgow they operate 4 weekly flights and use Easyjet on other days.
Looking at Marella cruises and it looks like the sailings are on Tuesdays and Saturdays for the cruise packages. So potentially could Thursday and Sunday used for a new route or too increase on other routes. TUI use Vueling for Alicante and Malaga so i'm wondering if their support is needed for Mallorca and the other routes to be profitable for an airline like Vueling.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

If TUI didn't find the route profitable they wouldn't sell it. PMI has been one of their busiest, if not the busiest route for many years. They often operated 5-7 weekly and on 757 and 767's in the past. That has probably drawn away a lot of people that would book flight only with a low cost carrier.
When TUI and other operators book seats on other low cost airlines they only get a small part of the seat allocation. E.G If TUI used Vueling, they may only be allowed about 40 seats per flight, when they know they can fill a 189 seat aircraft.
The ideal scenario would be for TUI to use Vueling more (If it returned) so they can allocate the aircraft to other routes, but if they're making enough money, why would they need to?
Don't forget that TUI are also filling in the gap left by TCX that were 2-3 weekly.
The holiday package market is very different to the seat only low-cost market.

 

[Jerry]

The ideal scenario would be for TUI to use Vueling more (If it returned) so they can allocate the aircraft to other routes, but if they're making enough money, why would they need to?

I suppose it depends on what the airport could offer them too reduce a bit in frequency of their own flights too help support an airline that can also offer seat only as well and potentially add another route or grow one already served by TUI.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

I suppose it depends on what the airport could offer them too reduce a bit in frequency of their own flights too help support an airline that can also offer seat only as well and potentially add another route or grow one already served by TUI.

Never going to happen. If TUI wanted to use Vueling, they would speak to Vueling themselves. There's greater complexities with what TUI offer in terms of packages than just flights.
Vueling just need to operate at decent times to get bookings to increase. Timings have been dire in recent years.

 

[Jerry]

According to a post I've seen on social media TUI have added more for Summer 2024.
As well as Sharm el Sheikh returning and Enfidha going to 2 weekly Antalya will go to 3 weekly and Larnaca will go to 2 weekly.

 

[geoff]

That's good news, I was reading the same sort of announcement on the BRS section, an increase in TUI flights, but apparently no long haul from BRS for 2024, the poster seemed to think.

 

[Jerry]

That's good news, I was reading the same sort of announcement on the BRS section, an increase in TUI flights, but apparently no long haul from BRS for 2024, the poster seemed to think.

At the moment there's no long haul for 2024 onsale for BRS with TUI

 

[Jerry]

Summary of Summer 2024 for TUI from Cardiff Airport, Sharm el Sheikh hasn't been loaded yet.
45 weekly departures, 22 destinations, 3? based aircraft.
Palma de Mallorca 6 weekly
Tenerife 3 weekly
Dalaman 3 weekly
Ibiza 3 weekly
Lanzarote 2 weekly
Bourgas 2 weekly
Alicante 2 weekly
Malaga 2 weekly
Antalya 2 weekly
Paphos 2 weekly
Kos 2 weekly
Rhodes 2 weekly
Corfu 2 weekly
Menorca 2 weekly
Zante 2 weekly
Enfidha 2 weekly
Dubrovnik 1 weekly
Heraklion 1 weekly
Larnaca 1 weekly
Gran Canaria 1 weekly
Kefalonia 1 weekly
Reus 1 weekly


So this is what Summer 2024 schedule for TUI looks like at the moment
Monday
06.00 Enfidha
06.00 Dalaman
06.25 Corfu
06.55 Menorca
13.45 Tenerife
15.20 Antalya
16.55 Bourgas
Tuesday
06.00 Palma de Mallorca
06.00 Alicante
06.00 Reus
13.05 Kefalonia
13.25 Tenerife
14.30 Zante
22.40 Palma de Mallorca
Wednesday
06.00 Malaga
06.00 Kos
06.35 Ibiza
14.00 Rhodes
14.15 Paphos
16.25 Dalaman
Thursday
06.00 Lanzarote
06.00 Palma de Mallorca
06.30 Dubrovnik
13.10 Bourgas
14.45 Antalya
16.00 Dalaman
Friday
06.00 Menorca
06.00 Enfidha
06.10 Palma de Mallorca
13.20 Corfu
13.30 Zante
14.10 Tenerife
22.20 Ibiza
Saturday
06.00 Alicante
06.05 Ibiza
06.30 Palma de Mallorca
13.15 Kos
13.45 Gran Canaria
14.35 Rhodes
Sunday
06.00 Lanzarote
06.25 Malaga
07.05 Palma de Mallorca
13.50 Larnaca
14.15 Heraklion
15.55 Paphos

Summary of Summer 2024 for TUI from Cardiff Airport
48 weekly departures, 23 destinations, 3 based aircraft. 4 non based flights.
Palma de Mallorca 6 weekly
Tenerife 3 weekly
Dalaman 3 weekly (1 non based)
Antalya 3 weekly (2 non based)
Ibiza 3 weekly
Lanzarote 2 weekly
Bourgas 2 weekly
Alicante 2 weekly
Malaga 2 weekly
Larnaca 2 weekly
Paphos 2 weekly
Kos 2 weekly
Rhodes 2 weekly
Corfu 2 weekly
Menorca 2 weekly
Zante 2 weekly
Enfidha 2 weekly (1 non based)
Dubrovnik 1 weekly
Heraklion 1 weekly
Gran Canaria 1 weekly
Kefalonia 1 weekly
Reus 1 weekly
Sharm el Sheikh 1 weekly

 

[CWL94]

LCA will be 2x weekly

 

[Jerry]

So this is what Summer 2024 schedule for TUI looks like at the moment
Monday
06.00 Dalaman
06.25 Corfu
06.55 Menorca
13.45 Tenerife
14.10 Sharm el Sheikh
15.30 Enfidha (non based TUI)
16.55 Bourgas
20.30 Antalya (Other Carrier)
Tuesday
06.00 Palma de Mallorca
06.00 Alicante
06.00 Reus
13.05 Kefalonia
13.25 Tenerife
14.30 Zante
22.40 Palma de Mallorca
Wednesday
06.00 Malaga
06.00 Kos
06.35 Ibiza
14.00 Rhodes
14.15 Paphos
16.25 Dalaman
Thursday
06.00 Lanzarote
06.00 Palma de Mallorca
06.30 Dubrovnik
13.10 Bourgas
14.45 Larnaca
16.00 Antalya
20.30 Dalaman
Friday
06.00 Menorca
06.00 Enfidha
06.10 Palma de Mallorca
13.20 Corfu
13.30 Zante
14.10 Tenerife
20.30 Antalya (Other Carrier)
22.20 Ibiza
Saturday
06.00 Alicante
06.05 Ibiza
06.30 Palma de Mallorca
13.15 Kos
13.45 Gran Canaria
14.35 Rhodes
Sunday
06.00 Lanzarote
06.25 Malaga
07.05 Palma de Mallorca
13.50 Larnaca
14.15 Heraklion
15.55 Paphos

 

[Aviador]

That's a pretty impressive turnout for Tui.

 

[Jerry]

That's a pretty impressive turnout for Tui.

Yep only 2 away from the 50 departures mark and obviously we don't know what other airlines will bring for 2024 but they'll be at least 40% of the departures from CWL in 2024.