TUI Airline in 2026

[HQ_BRU_Lover]

Flightradar24 shows already a new reg. OO-TMG, that will be number 9 of 15 ordered for TUI Fly Belgium.

Came in directly from BFI (like all other MAX deliveries).

@moderators: is there already a "Tui airline in 2026" topic? Can't seem to find it.

[sn26567]

TUI fly Belgium in 2013
TUI fly Belgium in 2014
TUI fly Belgium in 2015
TUI fly Belgium in 2016
TUI fly Belgium in 2017
TUI fly Belgium in 2018
TUI fly Belgium in 2019
TUI fly Belgium in 2020
TUI fly Belgium in 2021
TUI Aviation in 2022
TUI Aviation in 2023
TUI Airline in 2024
TUI Airline in 2025

[Atlantis]

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 cutted already 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

[sn26567]

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.

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/tui- ... uel-costs/

[Conti764]

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.

[Atlantis]

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.

They are making their brand not reliable.

[Lux_avi]

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.

They closed down CRL for a reason. Don’t forget TUI also works with Ryanair nowadays…

Regarding their fleet reduction in Belgium, look at the fleet size they had before COVID and what’s left now…

+ the Embraers are going to leave the fleet anyway.

Wait for Transavia to expand and compete even more against TUI in Belgium, they will be down to 5 737’s …

[Conti764]

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...

[Lux_avi]

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.

[Atlantis]

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.

[fcw]

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?

[convair]

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?

In a group, there can always be intercompanies invoices (e.g. for "services" etc...) which are often used for window-dressing one or the other entity.

[Lux_avi]

In a group, there can always be intercompanies invoices (e.g. for "services" etc...) which are often used for window-dressing one or the other entity.

Yes. But the question today is why TUI Airlines Belgium is going down while it used to be very successful?

It’s not because of the seat only market, far from that.

[koninckske]

They cannot handle the increased competition.

Honestly forget that you can compete with FR in CRL on the same routes. The cost base of FR is a lot lower.

And recently the competion in BRU has become a lot stronger too with VY and HV. Example is the arrival of VY on the PMI route at BRU: TUI pax numbers in July 2026 were down 12% between Belgium and PMI, but the actual pax numbers increased with 16,8% all companies combined.

Not so easy to sell seat only with increased competition now. I also noticed a lot of cheap tickets (59,99 or 69,99) being sold to AGP, ALC, PMI... this summerseason by TUI in July and August. Even if they sell a ticket, the revenue is very low. And sorry, but charging 35 EUR for a trolley (one-way)...

When Ryanair arrived in Brussels Tui's smart move was to start flights from ANR. And it worked. Now they close ANR. Different management and the decision centre in Germany now.

[Atlantis]

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?

In a group, there can always be intercompanies invoices (e.g. for "services" etc...) which are often used for window-dressing one or the other entity.

What kind of window dressing? The total group has a huge debt, total amount -2.3 billion euro debt. Latest figures March of this year.

For TUI Belgium, the debt last year was -74 million euro. The cumulated amount: -224 million euro debt.

What drives TUI Belgium also in losses are the cruises who are not doing well.

BTW, the B787 who was transferred from BE to NL has a lot of technical issues. Many times delays, cancelled flights and frustration by the NL pax.

At the end, people are looking at their own pocket. If they find better prices, they will go for that.
I know quite some people who don't need to watch money, but they fly also all the time FR.

[AAI]

That's just the problem, they close now ANR ! Why ?
Because those germans think that by centralising, they are saving costs !
But they don't understand the regional Belgian market !
A certain market segment is willing to pay more to fly from a calm regional airport,
but not from BRU, where there are other competitors

[Atlantis]

That's just the problem, they close now ANR ! Why ?
Because those germans think that by centralising, they are saving costs !
But they don't understand the regional Belgian market !
A certain market segment is willing to pay more to fly from a calm regional airport,
but not from BRU, where there are other competitors

Higher management are only looking at excel sheets. It's very well known that higher management doesn't know markets. People in the field, they know and understand it.

And this is visible in all industries

[lumumba]

That's just the problem, they close now ANR ! Why ?
Because those germans think that by centralising, they are saving costs !
But they don't understand the regional Belgian market !
A certain market segment is willing to pay more to fly from a calm regional airport,
but not from BRU, where there are other competitors

I'm not an expert, but I think the Embraer fleet is too small to be profitable and they want to get rid of it. That's why Antwerp is being shut down.
Was the Antwerp base profitable ?

[lumumba]

They cannot handle the increased competition.

Honestly forget that you can compete with FR in CRL on the same routes. The cost base of FR is a lot lower.

And recently the competion in BRU has become a lot stronger too with VY and HV. Example is the arrival of VY on the PMI route at BRU: TUI pax numbers in July 2026 were down 12% between Belgium and PMI, but the actual pax numbers increased with 16,8% all companies combined.

Not so easy to sell seat only with increased competition now. I also noticed a lot of cheap tickets (59,99 or 69,99) being sold to AGP, ALC, PMI... this summerseason by TUI in July and August. Even if they sell a ticket, the revenue is very low. And sorry, but charging 35 EUR for a trolley (one-way)...

When Ryanair arrived in Brussels Tui's smart move was to start flights from ANR. And it worked. Now they close ANR. Different management and the decision centre in Germany now.

I'm not an expert, but I think the Embraer fleet is too small to be profitable and they want to get rid of it. That's why Antwerp is being shut down.
Anyway was that Antwerp base profitable ?

I don't believe what you're saying, I believe they can absolutely be competitive with Charleroi and Ryanair, that's exactly what Transavia is doing.
If that was not the case you can close BRU!

[koninckske]

No need to agree with me. You are the expert, I am one too and we disagree even with the real experts.

Why do you think that CRL was the first base TUI closed? Because it was making such a nice profit?

TUI is a touroperator that tried to be an airline. Works when there is little competition. Not any more I am afraid.

About ANR: very high load factor, higher fares than at other airports in Belgium... profit? I don't think they would have invested in the E2 if it had been making a loss. But downsized to one aircraft and one aircraft bases are normally hard to make profitable. Or you put all of them in ANR or there is no need for them.