Atlantis wrote: 12 Aug 2026, 22:56
Not good news from TUI. The CEO of TUI is considering to remove planes from Belgium. There are a few reasons:
1. The tax environment which is negative. This is a political issue.
2. The war in the Middle East which makes kerosine very expensive. TUI is making heavy losses.
3. Less demand in Belgium. TUI already cut 5% in offers.
After going from 5 airports, to only 2 and now maybe removing planes, not good.
Regarding the tax. In our neighbouring countries, it's 4 to 5 times higher. Probably it's an easy way to cut unprofitable routes.
It seems that Belgian aviation will go into heavy years.
Source: Le Soir
The crisis at TUI is not limited to Belgium, but extends to all three of its regions in Europe. And Belgium doesn't look too bad compared to other European regions.
On the other hand, the hotels and the cruises are still faring quite well and making up for the losses at the airlines and the tour operator.
Conti764 wrote: 14 Aug 2026, 06:23
Tui should scale back LCC flying imho and focus on package travel again.
Or take advantage of FR downscaling at CRL, negotiate a good deal at the airport. Just retain holiday flying at BRU.
Exactly, back to what they were doing good. But we saw more strange moves.
Moving all long haul to AMS where the tax is 70 euro for long haul. In Belgium it is 7 euro.
Conti764 wrote: 14 Aug 2026, 06:23
Tui should scale back LCC flying imho and focus on package travel again.
Or take advantage of FR downscaling at CRL, negotiate a good deal at the airport. Just retain holiday flying at BRU.
They should focus on what brings money, and seat only is still in high demand and profitable.
Apparantly not, since the airline division is losing money.
They closed down CRL for a reason. Don’t forget TUI also works with Ryanair nowadays…
For a personal reason there are some Tui flights that I'd rather see operate from CRL.
On a serious note... They can't seem to make BRU work either with the strictly LCC flying. Either fly LCC to a cheaper airport and retain your package flying at BRU or quit the LCC entirely and focus on your leisure business. I remember booking Tui a few times in the past, flight operated by chartercompanies. Fair enough, but using another company while your own aircraft are flying a money losing operation elsewhere doesn't seem a good idea...
Conti764 wrote: 14 Aug 2026, 06:23
Tui should scale back LCC flying imho and focus on package travel again.
Or take advantage of FR downscaling at CRL, negotiate a good deal at the airport. Just retain holiday flying at BRU.
They should focus on what brings money, and seat only is still in high demand and profitable.
Apparantly not, since the airline division is losing money.
They closed down CRL for a reason. Don’t forget TUI also works with Ryanair nowadays…
For a personal reason there are some Tui flights that I'd rather see operate from CRL.
On a serious note... They can't seem to make BRU work either with the strictly LCC flying. Either fly LCC to a cheaper airport and retain your package flying at BRU or quit the LCC entirely and focus on your leisure business. I remember booking Tui a few times in the past, flight operated by chartercompanies. Fair enough, but using another company while your own aircraft are flying a money losing operation elsewhere doesn't seem a good idea...
The airline losing money doesn’t mean it’s because of the seat only market… the impression that the package holiday clients will solve everything is not only outdated, but also completely wrong.
The group decided to focus on main hubs during Covid and to reduce its own fleet. They also cancelled MAX orders back then.
As a result now:
- less fuel efficient aircraft than originally planned
- more wet leases (poor quality wet leases, and bloody expensive… more expensive than flying their own aircraft!!)
- Fly4 was started to have a better product to cover their summer production, it doesn’t seem to go anywhere either
TUIfly BE was successful when its own management was in charge. The group fucked everything up.
They should focus on what brings money, and seat only is still in high demand and profitable.
Apparantly not, since the airline division is losing money.
They closed down CRL for a reason. Don’t forget TUI also works with Ryanair nowadays…
For a personal reason there are some Tui flights that I'd rather see operate from CRL.
On a serious note... They can't seem to make BRU work either with the strictly LCC flying. Either fly LCC to a cheaper airport and retain your package flying at BRU or quit the LCC entirely and focus on your leisure business. I remember booking Tui a few times in the past, flight operated by chartercompanies. Fair enough, but using another company while your own aircraft are flying a money losing operation elsewhere doesn't seem a good idea...
The airline losing money doesn’t mean it’s because of the seat only market… the impression that the package holiday clients will solve everything is not only outdated, but also completely wrong.
The group decided to focus on main hubs during Covid and to reduce its own fleet. They also cancelled MAX orders back then.
As a result now:
- less fuel efficient aircraft than originally planned
- more wet leases (poor quality wet leases, and bloody expensive… more expensive than flying their own aircraft!!)
- Fly4 was started to have a better product to cover their summer production, it doesn’t seem to go anywhere either
TUIfly BE was successful when its own management was in charge. The group fucked everything up.
I agree, when the own Belgian management was in charge, there was structure, a clear plan, new planes came. It was managed well. Today, we are far from that.
Lux_avi wrote: 14 Aug 2026, 21:31
The airline losing money doesn’t mean it’s because of the seat only market… the impression that the package holiday clients will solve everything is not only outdated, but also completely wrong..
Exactly! When two entities of the same brand are closely interconnected, it is impossible, for an outsider, to determine which part is generating a profit and which is making a loss.
Just one example: in the event of a delayed flight, which entity is responsible for covering the compensation? The holiday part who makes the profit on the package deal or the airline which is making peanuts on the flight?