TUI Airways

[White Heather]

TUI can make this base work there is no reason they cannot. The trouble with TUI when they do come to this base is that they just seem to want to serve everywhere with 1 aircraft and that doesn’t work. So that leaves them with options

i) Serve everywhere and it doesn’t work - cut the base. Have a few years out of the base and come back to us. Repeat the cycle.
ii) Cut down to what sells, and with decent profit/revenue, and fly there. Depending on the flights chosen they could quite easily do a daily flight to Palma, followed by Turkey and Canaries (Tenerife) maybe a dash of Greece and Egypt/Tunisia thrown in.
iii) Start serving markets not served from LBA that can easily make money and do it well. Your likes of Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Cape Verde. All I suspect will sell very well, all which would/could work from LBA. Cape Verde and Egypt would keep an aircraft throughout winter at LBA throwing in Tenerife for good measure (cruising) and a ski destination (chambery?!) and your done. Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Cape Verde don't have Jet2 competition.

The trouble with TUIUK is it try’s to serve everywhere with a finite amount of resource. That doesn’t work against the likes of Jet2 and Ryanair. A weekly flight to Corfu doesn’t stand well against 4 weekly flights from Jet2. This is their bigger wider issue. Limited resource and the “want” to serve everywhere be it with one based aircraft or W pattern flights. TUI need to really sit down and figure out what they want and where they see themselves in 2/5/10 years time. What once worked no longer does. Retreating back to bigger bases doesn’t work as it will leave the market open to the likes of Jet2 and Ryanair to take.

TUI rarely expand, they add new destinations for sacrifice of one of the frequent flights to other destinations. I've yet to see TUI go into expansion mode and add an aircraft here and an aircraft there on a frequent basis. Yes they've got 25 Max 8 coming, and a further 18 Max 10, but how much of that will be replacing other 737-800's and on top of that how many of all those aircraft will be based in the UK. The 43 aircraft will be shared out amongst the whole group of TUI airlines, including TUI Germany, TUI Scandinavia, TUI Belgium/Netherlands and the UK. Does anyone know the strategy for the 43 aircraft coming along and how many will go into TUI UK? A 2 base Max 8 TUI presence at LBA will have no detrimental affect to DSA or MAN. In fact TUI could quite easily make DSA/LBA complimentary of each other especially in Winter for example. Palma and Turkey market is that big that MAN/LBA/DSA would easily compliment each other. If it can work for Jet2 to have daily flights from LBA to DLM and 19 weekly flights from MAN I'm sure it can for TUI.

TUI need to start buying 2nd hand 737-800's to assist with expansion, and have a long term plan and strategy for the UK short haul market which clearly is profitable (as seen at Jet2) and execute it. However TUI UK is just another arm for TUI Group so would guess it's the bigger wider group picture which takes president.

They have a opportunity after TC for Short, Medium and Long Haul, it is almost there's to loose. I feel if they don't act soon they'll remain stagnant as they have done and sadly will allow Jet2 to overtake them as NO.1 tour operator before they even consider long haul.

Totally agree with you. The problem is their business plan and attitude. They haven't been that interested in LBA since DSA opened and no doubt they were enticed to go there and close the LBA base. It's the same at LPL I believe. Their view is we can travel to MAN, DSA or NCL. It doesn't matter to them that LBA has a huge catchment area. For the past 20 years they have been half hearted in everything they have done at LBA.

 

[White Heather]

I often hear that TUI are unable to compete with Jet2 at Leeds Bradford. Yet the two airlines both have substantial operations side by side at Bristol, Birmingham, East Midlands, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow. So why should LBA be different ? Unless someone knowledgeable can come up with a persuasive argument supporting TUI's dearth of LBA activity, I don't buy the 'can't compete' line.

Buy it or not, the fact is they had a woeful time at LBA when last based here with awful loads. Their worst anywhere according to LBA. They ended up pulling the base despite having signed up for the following year with another Sunwing base. Clearly, they were failing for some reason. Poor reliability was an issue caused by using Sunwing, possibly a poor choice of routes, possibly higher prices and their policy if flying a route one year then dropping it the next didn't help. Whatever, they messed up. Instead if sortng it out and coming back fighting, they pulled the plug and have done next to nothing since. As I said, where there's a will there's a way. So far, they don't have the will.

 

[White Heather]

I think LBA could incentivise them to base aircraft here. The problem may be Jet2 could take dim view of it. Politics?

And DSA, MAN etc. can all incentivise them not to. Remember that LBA had got them signed up for future summer bases using Sunwing with crews expecting to be back. There was a contract. TUi walked away anyway and sent the aircraft to Aberdeen.

 

[oldendays]

I agree that TUI don't appear to have the will to go up against Jet2 and that could well explain their near absence. They can compete - but they choose not to. TUI really don't help themselves.

 

[ROC10]

They have now done a similar thing at EDI. We had one based 737 for around 8/9 years and the base seemed to be doing well enough, not really any of the diverting issues LBA suffered from but then they can’t blame weather here. Then Covid hit and they just seemed to give up, with a minuscule operation since things restarted and an announcement that the base would be closing prior to S22. S22 now just has w-patterns and away-based/third party aircraft operating a handful of flights per week.

Strangely they have always committed to offering a (limited) long-haul offering from EDI to Mexico and Florida and are still planning to do this in S22! Yet they have never bothered to try and increase the base beyond one 737 to compete with the likes of Jet2 / Ryanair / EasyJet or even to offer some “different” destinations. I see it as very much a failure of their own making as I struggle to believe EDI doesn’t have the demand. I believe they are planning to grow their GLA base (which is by no means huge at 2-3 737s and a 787) so hopefully the crew can move across to there.

 

[Jerry]

Strangely they have always committed to offering a (limited) long-haul offering from EDI to Mexico and Florida and are still planning to do this in S22!

I'd imagine that long haul could be a different division of the company so there many well have been a separate deal with EDI concerning that.

 

[LBA787]

TUI summer 2022 schedule.

Tuesdays
TBA0000 = PMI 10:35 - LBA 12:20 / TBA0000 = LBA 13:50 - PMI 17:30 (Operator to be confirmed)
Fridays
TOM3551 = CFU 12:35 - LBA 14:05 / TOM3550 = LBA 15:05 - CFU 20:30 (W-legged of MAN based aircraft)
Saturdays
TOM3619 = PMI 11:00 - LBA 12:45 / TOM3618 = LBA 14:20 - PMI 18:00 (W-legged of MAN based aircraft)

I presume the blue birds will be back next week. Does anyone know what date they resume?

 

[lbaspotter]

I presume the blue birds will be back next week. Does anyone know what date they resume?

Yeap the First TUi flight this summer is due to operate next Tuesday, May 3rd from/to Palma.

Tuesdays
TOM3251 = PMI 12:15 - LBA 14:00 / TOM3250 = LBA 15:15 - PMI 18:55 Boeing 737-800
Fridays
TOM3551 = CFU 12:35 - LBA 14:05 / TOM3550 = LBA 15:05 - CFU 20:30 Boeing 737-800
Saturdays
TOM3619 = PMI 11:00 - LBA 12:45 / TOM3618 = LBA 14:20 - PMI 18:00 Boeing 737-800

Just beware during the first week the 3+ inbound flights might not appear on the airports live arrivals page, due to them basically being just empty positioning sectors.

 

[LBA787]

Nice one @lbaspotter.

It’ll be great to see them back.

 

[CM.]

Tommorows TUI flight to Palma is rumoured to be done by a Sunwing aircraft.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Be interesting to see the numbers on the flight... I presume IB will be just positioning?

 

[White Heather]

Be interesting to see the numbers on the flight... I presume IB will be just positioning?

I think you presume correctly.

 

[lbaspotter]

Tommorows TUI flight to Palma is rumoured to be done by a Sunwing aircraft.

Todays TUi Palma flight is booked to be flown by Boeing 737-800, G-TAWI

 

[CM.]

Luckily it was just a rumour. Be nice to see the blue livery again

 

[A400]

Todays TUi Palma flight is booked to be flown by Boeing 737-800, G-TAWI

This plane seems to be down as operating a flight to Doncaster.

 

[A400]

Ignore that it looks like it’s heading towards LBA

 

[ls27]

As an aside, according to the PMI arrivals board, the Humberside flight today is an A320.

 

[The Pole]

Doesn't even look like the flight has left LBA?

 

[White Heather]

Doesn't even look like the flight has left LBA?

No. Almost 2 hours late & Swissport no excuse unless they have gone on strike, as there's only been one other departure that they handle in the last 2 hours. Tech? Crew home AWOL?

 

[White Heather]

Doesn't even look like the flight has left LBA?

Departed 1725, 2 hours 10 minutes late.