TUI decides drastic job cuts at TUI fly Germany and the merger of the 5 European airlines under one Hanover-based company

TUI fly Germany wants to start negotiations on fleet reduction soon

• Supervisory Board supports restructuring plans and mandates management to negotiate with works councils and trade unions
• Existing employment guarantee until the end of 2021 for all German TUI companies also applies to the restructuring of TUI fly
• Commitment to company headquarters and the airline base Hanover: Hanover and Düsseldorf remain the largest bases of the TUI fly fleet

The plans would encompass the shrinking of the TUI fly Germany fleet from 39 to 17 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the loss of 900 jobs in Germany (720 flight crew and 180 ground staff), the merger of the five airlines under one single company headquartered in Hanover, less bases in Germany; etc.

TUI fly Germany Managing Director Oliver Lackmann explains after the meeting of the Supervisory Board of TUI fly GmbH in Hanover:

“At today’s meeting, the management again presented the plans for the restructuring of the German holiday airline to the TUI fly Supervisory Board and explained in detail the need for changes. There is no doubt that these are major changes and cutbacks for our employees and for the company. Nobody takes the decision lightly, neither I myself as managing director and flight captain nor the supervisory board. But the TUI fly fleet is too large for the customer base of our German TUI tour operator. We must reduce this fleet and work more closely together within the five airlines of the Group. Otherwise, as a premium provider of holiday flights, we will further increase our competitive disadvantage over other airlines.

Even before the Corona pandemic, the German airline market was characterised by considerable overcapacity and fierce price competition. The corona pandemic has led to severe disruptions in the airline sector, especially for holiday flyers. The regular business of TUI fly has come to a complete standstill since mid-March. According to forecasts, air traffic in the coming year will still be significantly lower than the volume in 2019. Even in the peak season, the TUI fly fleet was not able to achieve a cost-covering occupancy rate before Corona. In the past, between 14 and seven aircraft with crews were permanently leased to Air Berlin and later to Eurowings. These were thus aircraft and seats which we as a tour operator were unable to fill with our own customers. The situation has now become even more difficult due to the pandemic. In the long-term interests of all employees of our airline – and in the interests of TUI as a whole – we must make TUI fly fit for the future.

We want to come to an agreement with the representatives of the workforce as quickly as possible. The Supervisory Board of TUI fly has mandated the management to enter into negotiations with the works councils and the trade unions. The negotiations are also based on the employment protection scheme in place until the end of 2021, agreed with the Group Employee Council for all TUI Group companies in Germany. It excludes dismissals for operational reasons with effect before the end of 2021. We see this agreement, which has been in place since 2019, as an opportunity to make the restructuring as socially responsible as possible. The Supervisory Board also underlined this goal today. We are very aware that the reduction of each individual position is about colleagues who are highly loyal to their airline. Our aim is to secure as many jobs as possible in TUI fly in the long term. However, this will only succeed if we adjust the size of the airline to a healthy and future-proof level. We will take into account the interests of the employees, the Hanover airport location and TUI as a whole in our decisions. We are now at the beginning, not at the end, of the negotiations on the design of the restructuring. The core of the plans is the announced adjustment of the fleet to about half of the current 39 aircraft.

In addition, central functions are to be more closely integrated across all five Group airlines. In a first step, TUI’s European airlines will be merged under one company. This central flight division for TUI Group airlines will be based in Hanover. TUI fly plans to cut jobs in technical, administrative and crew functions since fewer aircraft will be used. In future, TUI fly intends to concentrate on the departure airports of Hanover and Düsseldorf as the largest fleet locations, as well as Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart“.

Hanover, 18 June 2020