TUI Airways Limited (formerly Thomsonfly and Thomson Airways) is a British

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights r ...

, offering scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. The airline is the world's largest

, carrying 11.8 million passengers in 2019. It is also the fourth-largest UK airline by total passengers carried, after

EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

and Jet2.com. TUI Airways is also the world's tenth-largest airline by number of route pairings served. Its UK and associated regional arm is TUI Airways Ltd which holds a

United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Its areas of responsibility include: * Supervising the issuing of pilots' licences, testing of ...

(CAA) Type A Operating Licence permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. Its head office and Registered Office is Wigmore House in

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

History

TUI Airways has its origins in several rival airlines. ''Euravia'' (later renamed

Britannia Airways Britannia Airways was a charter airline based in the UK. It was founded in 1961 as Euravia and became the world's largest holiday airline. Britannia's main bases were at London Gatwick, London Stansted, London Luton, Cardiff, Bristol, East Mi ...

in December 1964.), an airline which was founded in January 1962. Orion Airways, founded in 1979 by Horizon Holidays and later owned by the large brewing firm

Bass Brewery The Bass Brewery () was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK. By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with ...

and

InterContinental Hotels Group InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), marketed as IHG Hotels & Resorts, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the F ...

, was sold and merged with Britannia Airways in 1989 but retained the Britannia name. ''(These events happened before TUI came to the UK.)'' Britannia was rebranded to Thomsonfly in May 2005 as their parent company

Thomson Travel Group Thomson Travel Group plc was a business formed by the Thomson Corporation of Canada, when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1998. It was acquired by Preussag AG, an industrial and transport conglomerate, in 2000. The group continu ...

were bought by TUI Group as part of a wider reorganisation of TUI's operations in the UK. The other airline, Air 2000 that was founded in 1987, and which integrated the operations of

Leisure International Airways Leisure International Airways was a British charter airline which was established in 1987 and commenced operations in 1993. The company ceased operations in 1999. History The airline was established in October 1988 as Air UK Leisure, the char ...

in 1998. They became First Choice Airways in 2004 after being bought by First Choice and became their in-house airline. Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways merged following the merger of the travel divisions of TUI Group and First Choice Holidays in September 2007. The Thomson Airways brand was launched for the combined airline on 1 November 2008. The new brand retained the Thomsonfly colour scheme, and aircraft in the fleet were gradually repainted. Several First Choice Airways aircraft remained in the First Choice livery as they were due to be phased out of service. A new livery, named "Dynamic Wave" (which will also be applied on Thomson Cruises ships), was introduced in May 2012. TUI Airways became the first UK airline to take delivery of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, receiving the first aircraft in May 2013. Passenger services with the aircraft began on 21 June 2013 with a flight between London Gatwick and

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

. Also in 2013, the parent group TUI Travel, now known as TUI Group, ordered 70 Boeing 737 MAX for delivery to group airlines.

Rebrand

On 13 May 2015, it was announced by the TUI Group that all five of TUI's airline subsidiaries would be named TUI, whilst keeping their separate Air Operators Certificate, a process taking over three years to complete. TUI Airways was the last airline to be completed in late 2017. The rebrand began in mid-2016, with the addition of the new 'TUI' titles to its fleet. In December 2016, Thomson Holidays launched their final television advertisement using the 'Thomson' brand, before integrating into the 'TUI' brand. During the rebrand in 2017, the "TOMSON" callsign was dropped and replaced with "TUI AIR" and then changed again to "TOMJET". In May 2017, the brand TUI Airways began to be used in several areas and was implemented on all flight tracker applications. Most of the aircraft had been branded with 'TUI' titles, and onboard items such as glasses and napkins carried the new brand. Thomson Airways officially changed its legal name to TUI Airways on 2 October 2017. TUI's sister company, TUI UK (formerly Thomson Holidays), has ceased using the 'Thomson' brand, adopting the TUI UK brand on 18 October 2017.

Corporate affairs

Overview

The airline is part of a single-branded group, being the product of two mergers: the travel division of TUI Group with First Choice Holidays in September 2007 to form

TUI Travel Tui or TUI may refer to: Places * Tui, Pontevedra, Spain * Tui, Iran, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Tui, North Khorasan, North Khorasan Province, Iran * Tui Province, Burkina Faso * Tuis District, Costa Rica * Tui railway station, New Zealand ...

, under which their respective airlines, Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways, were merged under the former's Air Operator's Certificate in May 2008 and rebranded as Thomson Airways on 1 November 2008. The investable enterprise and overall leadership formally merged with TUI to form London ( LSE) and Frankfurt ( DAX) listed TUI Group since December 2014. TUI Airways officially changed its legal name from Thomson Airways to TUI Airways on 2 October 2017. This was in line with sister companies

TUI fly Belgium TUI fly Belgium, legally incorporated as ''TUI Airlines Belgium S.A./N.V.'' and formerly branded ''Jetairfly'', is a Belgian scheduled and charter airline with its registered office at Brussels Airport. The airline is a subsidiary of the T ...

, TUI fly Deutschland, TUI fly Netherlands and TUI fly Nordic.

Head office

The airline's head office is in the Wigmore House near

. The facility is adjacent to

Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, situated east of the town centre, and north of Central London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), a company wholly owned by L ...

Business figures

Destinations

Most scheduled flights operated by TUI Airways are on behalf of tour operators. The airline offers flights to destinations around the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean from 19 base airports in the United Kingdom. Additionally, seasonal charter routes are served from

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and Stockholm.

Fleet

Current fleet

As of December 2022, the TUI Airways Ltd fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Historical fleet

TUI Airways formerly operated the following aircraft:

References

External links

* {{Navbox Airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 2008 British Air Transport Association Companies based in Luton Companies based in Crawley Charter airlines of the United Kingdom TUI Group British companies established in 2008 2008 establishments in England British subsidiaries of foreign companies