TUI Airways

[Aviador]

Pilot banned for excess alcohol

A pilot who turned up for work when he was over the legal alcohol limit to fly a plane has been sentenced to six months in prison.

Patrick Kyagera, 43, of Purley, London, was due to fly 229 Thomson passengers from Birmingham Airport to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on 22 December, 2008.

During pre-flight checks staff said they noticed alcohol on his breath.

Kyagera pleaded guilty at Coventry Crown Court earlier and will have his licence withheld for 10 years.

Zero tolerance

He pleaded guilty to a charge of being over the illegal alcohol limit for aviation workers.

The Civil Aviation Authority said it would withhold his pilot's security clearance for 10 years for breaching its regulations and having a criminal conviction.

Kyagera no longer works for Thomson Airways.

A spokesman for the company said passenger and crew safety was its number one priority.

It said Kyagera had been dismissed shortly following the incident in line with its zero tolerance approach to drugs and alcohol misuse.

Source

 

[Ray Finkle]

G-OOBH, which is the the first 757 in the new livery, has been at BHX for a few days. I must say I do like it :good:

Credit to the photographer for a cracking picture.

 

[Aviador]

I love it, it's a big improvement on the previous livery.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Thomson winter 2013/14 long haul is now on sale.

Montego Bay is in for the whole winter on a Wed. April 2014 it's shown as twice weekly!

Cancun is on a Thursday.

Sandford now runs until end of Nov then changes to Bridgetown.

There could be room for more flights on a Fri and/or Sat.

Good news.

 

[Aviador]

Do you know if these flights will be operated by the new company Boeing 787's?

 

[Ray Finkle]

No news on the equipment yet but it would be nice.

 

[Ray Finkle]

As already posted Montego Bay still runs the whole of the winter this year whereas the last few years it has stopped for a time.

It has been confirmed that Thomson will fly from BHX to Sicily for summer 2014. No airport mentioned but Catania has appeared in the booking section before so it could well be there.

 

[Ray Finkle]

On the Thomson Faraway Shores online brochure BHX-Montego Bay (Fri) and BHX Cancun (Sat) are scheduled to be on the 787 from 18th July 2014, May and June is still down for the 763. At the moment Orlando remains as a 763.

Sal isn't bookable but Boa Vista still operates weekly.

Malta stays with Air Malta, Pula is twice weekly, Catania operates weekly on a Sunday and Montenegro is available but with flights into Dubrovnik and a coach transfer. Palma sees quite a reduction with Jetairfly replacing several Thomson flights which were 757's.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It appears that Jetairfly may be operating some of the Palma flights next summer.

 

[Brum X]

TUIFLY SUMMER 14

TUIfly in Summer 2014 season is adding 2 new routes from UK to Palma Mallorca. The airline plans to operate service from Birmingham and Londonderry on board Boeing 737-800.

eff 25MAY14 Birmingham – Palma Mallorca 1 weekly (until 28SEP14)
X33440 BHX1115 – 1435PMI 73H 7
X34441 PMI0845 – 1025BHX 73H 7

 

[Ray Finkle]

Hopefully TUIfly should see some interesting colour schemes on a Sunday.

Jetairfly are down to operate on Tuesday's.

 

[Brum X]

SUMMER 2015

Not sure if these will be operated by Thomson Airways but they are new destinations for Thomson Holidays from BHX for next Summer.

Agadir, Chania and Djerba are new. Cancun, Dubrovnik and Kefalonia get extra flights. Marrakech isn't bookable for Summer 2015 and Orlando still at x 1 Weekly.

 

[thunderchild]

Shame there was no increase on Orlando; I wonder if TCX might give it a go? MCO remains in the drop down list of destinations although nothing bookable.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Good to see an increase for Cancun but agree Orlando remains very, very disappointing, Thomas Cook have dabbled so lets hope the figures stacked up for them and we'll see something in the future, Cuba would be great too :s_thumbsup

Another new Thomson destination is Porto Santo, which is a small Island close to Madeira, flights are on Monday afternoons from May 25th 2015.

 

[Ray Finkle]

An article on the airports website about the above although the Cancun increase isn't mentioned. Also I didn't think Sal was a new route although it did stop for a period of time.

Thomson and First Choice Increase Capacity and Introduce Five New Routes From Birmingham Airport


28 April 2014

More choice, more variety and local routes for Birmingham’s sun seekers

Thomson and First Choice increase capacity from Birmingham Airport and introduce five new routes

Thomson and First Choice are pleased to announce that in summer 2015 they will be increasing capacity at Birmingham Airport through the introduction of over 37,000 additional seats and five new routes to Agadir, Morocco; Chania, Greece; Djerba, Tunisia; Porto Santo and Sal, Cape Verde.

The plans for summer 2015 also include the addition of further weekly flights for existing routes to Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kefalonia, Greece; Antalya, Turkey and Paphos, Cyprus bringing the total destinations on offer from Birmingham Airport to 46.

The move to introduce these routes is part of the UK’s largest tour operator’s strategy to ensure customers across the UK can fly from their local airport and stay at the best hotels in some of the most exciting destinations. The new routes went on sale on the 24th April.

Not only will customers from the Midlands now be able to fly to some fantastic destinations, but they will also have the opportunity to choose varying durations - not just the standard seven and 14 night stays.

Local sun seekers will also be able to join Thomson Cruises’ brand new itineraries from Dubrovnik with the introduction of the new additional weekly flight to Croatia. They will have the opportunity to sail on Thomson Celebration on itineraries such as Grecian Legends and Croatian Classics as well as taking advantage of the extensive cruise and stay programme on offer.

Karen Switzer, Director of Aviation Planning for Thomson and First Choice, said of the move: “Adding additional capacity from the Midlands and the introduction of five brand new routes demonstrates our commitment to Birmingham Airport and the local area, and following the success of similar routes across a number of regional airports, we know that the demand is there.

“Expanding access to our portfolio of destinations and hotels is a key part of our overall strategy and we hope that this move will enhance the holiday experience for our customers.”

William Pearson, Birmingham Airport’s Aviation Development Director, added: “Thomson is our largest tour operator so we’re extremely pleased to see it expanding its programme further from Birmingham in 2015. These five new routes and extra capacity on popular sun destinations is great news for travellers as it means more choice and availability for those wanting to fly from Birmingham with this leading airline.”

http://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/meta ... rport.aspx

 

[Brummiegem]

This is very welcome news from Thomson and First Choice.However it is very disappointing that Orlando,Dominican Republic and Cuba have not been included.With the exception of Cuba,the other destinations have all been served successfully in the past,so let's hope something will happen in the near future.
A quick question though,when the Dominican Republic flights operated were they direct or was their a tech stop?

 

[thunderchild]

If memory serves me correctly Thomson flew direct from Birmingham to Punta Cana, Puerto Plata and La Romana over the years - Aruba was also served for a time. Cancun used to have a tech stop at MAN but I don't believe this has been the case since the 767s had the winglets installed?

 

[User0001]

Im pretty sure Aruba was only ever served from MAN and LGW, 1 weekly each.

 

[thunderchild]

If it did operate it was only for x1 winter season;

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forum ... in/3887143

 

[Brummiegem]

Thunderchild,thanks for that.I too don't specifically remember Aruba as a destination but a number of different Caribbean points have been served to link in with cruises.MBJ,BDA,KIN
and St Lucia have also been served at some point!!!