TUIfly
Encyclopedia
TUIfly Vermarktungs GmbH is an airline based at Hannover Airport in Langenhagen
Langenhagen
Langenhagen is a town in the Hanover district of Lower Saxony, Germany.-International relations:Langenhagen is twinned with: - Joinville - - Economy :...

, Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

, Germany. The airline offers both charter and scheduled low-cost
Low-cost carrier
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline is an airline that generally has lower fares and fewer comforts...

 flights. About 60% of all seats are sold directly, 30% as a part of a TUI
TUI AG
TUI AG is a German multinational travel and tourism company headquartered in Hanover. Until 2001 it was an industrial and transportation company named Preussag AG, which in the mid-1990s decided to reinvent itself as a tourism, shipping, and logistics company...

 holiday package and 10% by other agencies. TUIfly, with its fleet of 38 aircraft, is the third largest airline in Germany, behind Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...

 and Air Berlin
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers....

.

History

The airline was formed in 2007 by the merger of Hapag Lloyd Flug and Hapag Lloyd Express as a branch of TUI Travel
TUI Travel
TUI Travel PLC is a FTSE 250 international leisure travel group listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was formed on 3 September 2007 by the merger of First Choice Holidays PLC and the Tourism Division of TUI AG, which owns 55.09% of the company, operating in 180 countries and serving 30m...

. The airline codes
Airline codes
This is a list of airline codes. The table lists the IATA airline designators, the ICAO airline designators and the airline call signs...

 of its predecessor are still in use, and until September 24, 2010 (when it was changed to TUIJET) the old YELLOWCAB callsign was used, too.

In the second quarter of 2007, the load factor was at about 79%, after about 92% in the year before. Subsequently, the company announced the closure of its Leipzig/Halle
Leipzig/Halle Airport
Leipzig/Halle Airport, sometimes called Schkeuditz Airport , is located in Schkeuditz, Saxony and serves both Leipzig, Saxony and Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.It has more than two million passengers per year....

 and Bremen
Bremen Airport
Bremen Airport or Flughafen Bremen serves the German city of Bremen and is located south of the city. There were 2.4 million passengers in 2008.-History:The beginnings of the airport date back to the early 20th century...

 bases, in order to grow in Cologne/Bonn instead. On 29 January 2008, plans were announced to merge TUIfly with Eurowings
Eurowings
Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG, part of Lufthansa Regional, is an airline with its head office in the Düsseldorf Administrative Center in Düsseldorf, Germany...

 and Germanwings
Germanwings
Germanwings GmbH is a low-cost airline based in Cologne, Germany, and is wholly owned by Lufthansa. Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport and Berlin-Schönefeld Airport are the important hubs in the airline's network of approximately 70 destinations...

 (the Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...

 low-cost brands) into a joint and independent holding company, but were withdrawn as talks turned out to be unsuccessful.

TUI Travel confirmed on 27 March 2009 that it had sealed a strategic partnership with Air Berlin
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers....

 that would see Tui Travel take a 20% stake in Air Berlin
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers....

, and Air Berlin 20% in TUIfly. Due to regulatory matters, this was changed to 9.9%. Air Berlin will also wet-lease 17 aircraft from TUIfly and take over all of TUIfly's city connections. TUI will focus on serving the charter market with 21 aircraft of the remaining fleet. From 25 October 2009, all German domestic flights previously operated by TUIfly were taken over by Air Berlin, as well as all flights to Austria, Italy and Croatia. Most of these flights are still operated by TUIfly aircraft, but are marketed by Air Berlin.

Like Thomson Airways
Thomson Airways
Thomson Airways is the world's largest charter airline, offering scheduled and charter flights from the UK to destinations across Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. The company commenced operations on 1 November 2008, following the merger and subsequent re-branding of Thomsonfly and First...

, TUIfly are also dropping the .com on their livery.

Fleet

As of June 2011, the TUIfly fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 8.3 years:

Aircraft In Service Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-700 10 148
Boeing 737-800 27 189
Total 37


Inflight services

All flights within Germany and other non-tourist destinations are operated on behalf of Air Berlin and the service of Air Berlin. TUIfly offers free drinks, snacks, and meals on flights to and from Cape Verde, Egypt, Greece, Israel, southern Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain (including the Canary Islands), and Tunisia. Hot meals are served on the longest flights, including those to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Egypt, and Madeira.

External links

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