TUI to acquire stake in Coventry Airport
Reported by The Times and AFX...
"TUI AG will today announce it is buying a controlling stake in West Midlands International Airport, otherwise known as Coventry airport, The Times reported citing sources close to TUI.
The deal, announced to staff last night, is believed to be the first instance of a tour operator taking on ownership and management of an airport, the paper said.
The acquisition comes just weeks before TUI launches Thomsonfly, a low-cost airline with four aircraft flying out of Coventry to eleven holiday destinations in the Mediterranean and the Channel Islands, starting from March 31, it added.
TUI, which entered the UK in 2000 through the 1.8 bln stg acquisition of Thomson Travel Group, is expected to press ahead with plans by the airport's owners, Air Atlantique, to update the site and build a 3 mln stg terminal, the Times said.
The paper said it understands TUI has become increasingly frustrated at the threat to Thomsonfly's plans posed by the breakdown in relations between Air Atlantique and the local authorities. The company is believed to view taking over the airport as the best way of preserving its position.
The Times said that, according to a source close to TUI, the tour operator has no intention of buying any other airports. The source described the cost of buying and redeveloping West Midlands airport as "minimal in the context of the size of the company".
TUI, Europe's largest tourism company, owns Thomson Holidays and Lunn Poly in the UK. "