 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| LSE: TT. | |
| Industry | Transport |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Defunct | 2014 (Merged withTUI AG) |
| Headquarters | Crawley,England, UK |
Key people | Friedrich Joussen (Chairman) Sir Michael Hodgkinson (Deputy Chairman) Peter Long (Chief Executive) |
| Products | Passenger transport,travel agency, accommodation |
| Revenue | £15,051 million (2013)[1] |
| £297 million (2013)[1] | |
| £63 million (2013)[1] | |
| Owner | TUI AG (56.4%)[2] |
Number of employees | 54,000 (2013)[3] |
| Subsidiaries | Thomson Airways Thomson Holidays |
| Website | www |
TUI Travel PLC was a British leisure travel group headquartered inCrawley,West Sussex. The company was formed on 3 September 2007 by the merger of First Choice Holidays PLC and the Tourism Division ofTUI AG, which owned 56.4% of it.[2] The company operated in 180 countries and claimed 30 million customers.[4]
The company was listed on theLondon Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of theFTSE 100 Index. TUI Travel merged with its German parent in 2014 to form theTUI Group.[5][6]
The company was founded in 1923 inBerlin, Germany asPreußische Bergwerks und Hütten-Aktiengesellschaft operating in the industrial sector.[7] In 1959 it listed on theFrankfurt Stock Exchange and in 1964 was renamedPreussag.[7] In 2000 it acquiredThomson Travel and in 2002 boughtHapag Lloyd, which itself owned the travel firm TUI (formerlyTouristik Union International), and renamed itself TUI AG.[8] In June 2014 TUI AG and TUI Travel announced the two companies would be merged.[9]
The company was founded in 1973 asOwners Abroad operating as atravel agent.[7] It first listed on theLondon Stock Exchange in 1982.[7] In 1987 it launchedAir 2000 and in 1990 acquired Redwing.[7]
In March 2007, the merger of the travel division of TUI AG with First Choice was announced.[10] The European Commission approved the merger on 4 June 2007, on the condition that the merged company sell Budget Travel in Ireland. The merged company, TUI Travel PLC, began operations in September 2007.[11]
TUI and First Choice's in-house airlines,Thomsonfly andFirst Choice Airways, were brought together under the former'sAir operator's certificate in May 2008, and the merged airline was rebranded asThomson Airways in November 2008.[12]
In October 2011 it was announced that under a two-year rebranding programme, the store estate would be rebranded as "Thomson featuring First Choice" to create a single travel agency brand; the First Choice branding and uniform will be phased out, and the First Choice name will be used forall-inclusive package holidays sold by the combined network.[13]
The company confirmed in January 2013 that it had received a proposal from its parent to merge.[14] In May 2013, the chief executive of TUI AG ruled out a merger with TUI Travel.[15] In an about-face in June 2014 the two companies announced they had agreed terms on a merger.[16] The merger was completed and TUI Travel was de-listed from the London Stock Exchange on 17 December 2014.[17]
The online travel retailer was sold along with Signature Vacations toSunwing Travel Group in 2009.[18]
The Company was organised into three sectors:[19]
In 2005 the names and liveries of the group airlines were changed to reflect the name of the group. The airlines were rebranded with the name best known in their local market or the name of the principal tour operator,Jet4you andBritannia Airways names were changed. Jet4you acquired the suffix "-fly" whereas Britannia Airways had a complete name change, to reflect the tour operator that it was flying for therefore Britannia Airways becameThomsonfly. Following the merger ofFirst Choice Airways and Thomsonfly, the new combined airline becameThomson Airways. Both airlines had their aircraft repainted in the light blue TUI colours with a red TUI logo on the tail. However, Corsairfly has been renamed Corsair International and has a new livery.
| Airline[20] | Country | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corsair International |  France | .jpg) | Corsair International flies to 15 destinations in French overseas territories around theMediterranean,Thailand, North Africa, andNorth America. This is the only airline in the TUI alliance that does not wear the TUI livery. |
| Thomson Airways (nowTUI Airways) |  United Kingdom Ireland | .jpg) | Thomson Airways is the largest TUI-owned airline and the largest charter airline in the world. It operates a fleet of 64 aircraft and flies from 26 British airports to 109 destinations worldwide. It was formed by the merger ofThomsonfly (formerlyBritannia Airways) andFirst Choice Airways. |
| Arkefly (nowTUI fly Netherlands) |  Netherlands |  | Since 2005, the airline has operated charter flights from Amsterdam Schiphol to destinations inSouthern Europe,North Africa, theCaribbean, andLatin America. It was formerly named Arkefly. |
| TUIfly (nowTUI fly Deutschland) |  Germany |  | TUI fly is a German leisureairline headquartered atHannover Airport, and is the fourth largest airline in the country. It operates charter flights toSouthern Europe,North Africa, theCanary Islands and theMiddle East. |
| Jetairfly (nowTUI fly Belgium) |  Belgium | _(National-Zaventem)%2c_Belgium_PP1374519739.jpg) | TUI fly Belgium, formerly Jetairfly, is a Belgian airline with its administrative headquarters inOstend. TUI fly has operated since late 2005 and has a network of 180 routes to more than 100 airports in theMediterranean,Red Sea,Caribbean,Canary Islands,Cape Verde Islands,Africa and theUnited States. |
| TUI fly Nordic |  Sweden | _%25E2%2580%2598SE-RFY%25E2%2580%2599_TUIfly_Nordic_(24754022171).jpg) | TUI fly Nordic flies from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. They fly holidaymakers travelling with the tour operators Fritidsresor, Finnmatkat and Star Tour. |
| Airline | Country | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aladia Airlines |  Mexico | .jpg) | Aladia was a joint-venture between the TUI Group and Mexican investors; launched in 2006.[21] It was the only North American and Mexican airline part of the TUI Group. It suspended operations in October 2008[22] and has yet to resume its operations. |
| Britannia Airways |  United Kingdom |  | Britannia Airways was the largestcharter airline in theUnited Kingdom, rebranded asThomsonfly in 2005. Its main bases wereLondon Gatwick,London Luton,Birmingham,Manchester,Newcastle andGlasgow. |
| Jet4you |  Morocco | .jpg) | Jet4you operated services between Moroccan cities and destinations in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain and Italy. Operations have now been merged with Jetairfly. |
| Britannia Nordic | Sweden |  | Britannia Nordic flew from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. It was merged intoTUIfly Nordic. |
| First Choice Airways | United Kingdom |  | First Choice Airways was a charter airline of European tour operator TUI Travel PLC, based in Crawley, England. It flew to more than 60 destinations worldwide from 14 UK and Irish airports. Following TUI UK merging with First Choice Holidays in September 2007 it became part of TUI Travel PLC. The new holiday company continued with both in-house airlines (Thomsonfly andFirst Choice Airways) through Winter 07 and Summer 08 however from 1 November 2008 it becameThomson Airways. |
| Hapag-Lloyd Express |  Germany |  | Hapag-Lloyd Express (previously also marketed as HLX.com) was a no-frills, high-frequency, express airline based in Langenhagen, Germany. It operated services within Germany and to destinations in Europe. In January 2007 in a restructuring, it combined its operations withHapag-Lloyd Flug to become TUIfly. |
| Hapag-Lloyd Flug | Germany | _(2410285784).jpg) | Hapag-Lloyd Flug (between 2005 and 2007 it was also marketed as Hapagfly) was an airline based in Langenhagen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Merged with Hapag-Lloyd Express and became TUIfly |
| Metrojet |  Russia | .jpg) | The airline formed in 1993 as a regional airline as Kolavia and rebranded to a charter airline with new name Metrojet. Was the only TUI Group operator in Eastern Europe and Asia till August 2014. In August 2014, the airline exited from TUI Group, because of negotiations between the airline and the group.[23] |
| Neos |  Italy |  | Neos was established on 22 June 2001 and started operations on 8 March 2002. It was started as a joint venture between Alpitour parent firm Finanziaria di Partecipazioni (IFIL), which is controlled by the Agnelli Group and the German tour operator, TUI. TUI sold its shares in 2004. |
| Thomsonfly | United Kingdom |  | Thomsonfly was a British airline, previously known as Britannia and a business within TUI UK prior to September 2007. Following TUI UK merging with First Choice Holidays in September 2007 it became part of TUI Travel PLC. The new holiday company continued with both in-house airlines (Thomsonfly andFirst Choice Airways) through Winter 07 and Summer 08 however from 1 November 2008 it becameThomson Airways. |
Media related toTUI Airline Management at Wikimedia Commons
