TUIfly

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This article is about the German airline. For the organization of airlines of the TUI Group, see TUI Airlines.

TUIfly
IATA X3	ICAO HLX	Callsign YELLOW CAB
Founded		2007 (predecessor in 1972)
Hubs		Cologne Bonn Airport Hanover Airport
Focus cities		Tegel International Airport Stuttgart Airport Leipzig/Halle Airport Memmingen Airport Marco Polo International Airport ( Italy )
Frequent flyer program		bluemiles
Member lounge		none
Alliance		TUI Airlines
Fleet size		54
Destinations		75
Parent company		TUI AG
Headquarters		Hanover, Germany
Key people		Dr. Michael Frenzel (TUI)
Website: http://www.tuifly.com

Image:TUIfly B738 D-AHFI.jpg

TUIfly Boeing 737-800 D-AHFI at Munich Airport

TUIfly is the third biggest airline in Germany (after Lufthansa and Air Berlin) and was founded in January 2007 as a cooperation of Hapag-Lloyd Flug and Hapag-Lloyd Express whose brands Hapagfly and HLX.com are no longer used. All flights are operated by Hapag-Lloyd Flug while Hapag-Lloyd Express markets them.

TUIfly offers both charter and low-cost flights. About 60% of all seats are sold directly, 30% as a part of a TUI holiday package, and 10% by other agencies. In contrast to other low-cost carriers, all seats are pre-assigned at check-in, however on most routes no complimentary meals or refreshments are provided.

With a fleet of currently 54 Boeing 737 aircraft, TUIfly is Germany's third largest operator, only surpassed by Lufthansa and Air Berlin. As it does not have an IATA or ICAO designator of its own yet, usually the former designators of HLX are used (with a few exceptions for legal reasons). While most flights are operated by Hapag-Lloyd Flug, there are also some flights operated by Germania.

TUIfly have recently announced that all their Thomsonfly aircraft will also be renamed and have the same look as TUIfly, thus Thomsonfly will no longer be around. Due to the impending merger of First Choice Airways and Thomsonfly, All first choice aircraft will also be rebranded as TUIfly.

The airline had a special program for students in the beginning 2007. The program contained unrestricted number of flights through special airports in Europe during a period for a fixed fare. In fall the airline announced to close this program.

In the second Q. 2007 the load factor was "only" about 79%, after about 92% in the year before. The airline announced closing their Leipzig and Bremen hubs, growing in Cologne/Bonn instead.

It is rumored that the airline will exchange shares with Germanwings. Should this happen, Lufthansa or Germanwings would hold 40% and TUIfly another 40%, with the remaining 20% held by private investors.

TUIfly destinations

[edit] Virtual Airline

Following the tradition of its predecessors, TUIfly also has a virtual counterpart called TUIfly-virtual that is officially approved by TUIfly. Its members are simulating the flights of TUIfly using Microsoft Flight Simulator on networks like IVAO or VATSIM.