Smartwings 738 operating for TUI in Bristol today too and also one extra Privelege Style 757 is en route to Stansted and is due to position to Manchester tonight to operate for TUI possibly from tomorrow.

Is there a way for non-employees to see which airline's aircraft will be used for which of TUI's flights ?
FR24 shows aircraft allocations typically no more than 24h in advance. I know one can look back in FR24 history to find patterns of regular use, but that technique doesn't work very well at the start of summer.
And preferably without having to compare seatmaps - there are too many oddball aircraft in TUI's fleet this summer for this approach to really work, particularly when you allow for potential substitution of (for example) TUI Germany owned, wet- and dry-leased aircraft to operate a TUI UK flight from the UK to Spain

Yesterday's Aberdeen Tenerife has been operated by Smartwings earlier today from Glasgow on behalf of TUI. It has just landed in Tenerife using AC OK-TVM

Maybe because this thread is about TUI Airways. EZY, BA, et al have the ultimate get-out clause in that they can cancel and rebook passengers onto other flights, or reimburse. The nature of TUI's business means this is not an option hence the need to run with the delay unless alternative equipment/crew can be sourced, often at great expense. The restart of operations for Summer 2022 has not been easy for any airline and the long term effects will not be known fully for some time. We are in for a roller coaster ride over the coming months and (dare I say it) years.

No not really. Hence the sudden sub charters today using Privelege Style. None of which were planned that I know of. One was yesterday's Dublin to Zaynthos using an A321 which was cancelled, and another was Tenerife from Gatwick using a 767 which may have also included some of the delayed Norwich passengers from yesterday's cancelled Sunwing flight.

Yes looks to be a bit of a night flight tonight with the arrival showing at 24 May 06:10 in the morning.

Many years ago I was told by somebody in Britannia planning that you sell the seats first and then worry about what will do the flying later. There were three sources - your basic BY fleet, third party a/c leased in for the season (back in the day the likes of Air Florida and Quebecair, nowadays Sunwings and the east eiuropeans) and third part a/c doing specific flights on a season long basis (as described by WHBM at #507).

Certainly in the regions, the fleets doing short haul sun flights were relatively stable with the same a/c operating from the same airport for weeks/months at a time until they needed to be rotated for maintenance/fleet balancing purposes as described by Smudge and LBAflyer in previous posts.

Of course that's the plan - but as we know, things quite often "turn to sh*t" (a technical phrase...) and you start robbing Peter to pay Paul to keep things moving and a/c will be switched around to try and keep the schedule on track - the last resort will be subbing in at short notice third party carriers to operate specific flights.

This year seems to have got off to particularly difficult start, with far more switching around of the basic TUI fleet between UK bases and subbing in of third parties to cover specific flights. Seems to be several possible causes - all or some of: season long leases falling through, delays affecting getting the BY fleet back to capacity (e.g. the returning SWG leases) and staffing issues. Hopefully things will settle down as the season develops.

Although a "subcharter" for a single specific flight may indeed appear a great expense, if only because they sometimes have to position to and fro halfway across Europe, and if nobody else is available they know they have you by the short-and-curlies, it can still be your cheapest approach compared to having spare aircraft and crew capacity throught the season, which only rarely gets used. Any decent operations accountant knows the relative numbers and the most efficient way to go.

I'm not directly involved in any way, but I do understand that Jet2 have handled things particularly well through the Lockdown to now with crew and serviceable fleet retention, BA have been appalling with it, and TUI UK lays somewhere in the middle.

TUI Fleet Summer 2022
 

TUIs fleet for Summer 2022:- (80 aircraft)

7 A320's - 9H-MLP, 9H-MLQ, ES-SAM, ES-SAY, ES-SAZ, G-POWK, G-POWM leased from Avion Express, Smartlynx, Titan - based DUB, DSA, LGW
1 A321 - to be leased from SmartLynx, details TBC, MAN based
4 B738s - C-FPRP, C-FWCH, C-FYJD, C-GFEH leased from Sunwing, based ABZ, BFS, CWL, NWI
34 B738s - based GLA, NCL, DSA, MAN, EMA, BHX, LTN, STN, CWL, BOH, EXT, LGW
18 B7M8s - based BHX, BRS, GLA, NCL, MAN, LGW
2 B763s - based MAN
2 B788s - G-TUIF, G-TUIH short haul configuration, based LGW, MAN
6 B788s - long haul configuration, based GLA, MAN, NCL/DSA, BHX, BRS, LGW
6 B789s - based BHX, LGW, MAN

Summer schedules shows number of aircraft required :- 7 A320s, 1 A321, 37 B738s, 18 B7M8s, 2 B76W's, 8 B788's, 5 B789's, total aircraft required 78.

That's leaves 1 spare B738, and 1 spare B789 (SE-RFZ) as standby aircraft.

Currently G-TUIF is a LTN being configured for short haul, SE-RFZ at AMM for maintenance, G-TAWD at St Athan's, due to enter service this week, G-TAWN at Birmingham, expected to enter service Wednesday, G-TUMP, due to be delivered LGW 11th June.

Still a question mark over the A321 SmartLynx lease, but TUI website is still showing its seating plan on some Manchester flights.

Thanks Matt995 really handy info.

what about A320 YL-LCT that has been at MAN for the past few weeks and has TUI stickers on? Or is this maybe instead of the A321 that was due at MAN

I see today's Sunwing Reus to Cardiff flight hasn't left Reus yet and has therefore delayed this afternoons Zakynthos flight. Tui aren't having much luck with Sunwing at all. This mornings 9am Belfast to Palma has only just left on a Wamos A330. The tech Belfast Sunwing AC seems to be fixed now as it has operated today's Belfast to Reus flight just over 2 hours late.

What a mess. Sounds like the good old late 80’s delays and subcharters… Not a great start to season. Would put me off considering TUI.

Do Sunwing provide the crew for the flights or is it crewed by UK staff, Just wondered if that had any bearing on the Sunwing flight issues
Presumably A320 ES-SAA which was rumoured to be for TUI is not now operating as this left BHX earlier heading for Germany

Hi All,
Booked to go to Larnaca from Manchester on the 3rd June with TUI.
Got the email yesterday from TUI -We’re writing to you to let you know it’s been necessary to make some changes to the airline that you were due to fly with and your flight times may have changed also. One or more of your flights will now be operated by SMARTLYNX on behalf of TUI Airways. This is because we plan our flying programme a long time in advance and depending on where and when our customers are choosing to travel, we do on occasions need to change the type of aircraft we operate on a particular route. We’re really sorry for any disappointment this may cause.


The TUI booking now says an A320 we deliver us.

Any ideas what this A320 will be like? i have read some of the reviews.

UPDATE: both of these flights have now been "rescheduled" for 25th May. Not great at all, especially for those who checked in at Cardiff this morning expecting to fly to Greece today

It will be a Smartlynx or Avion Express aircraft as these are both scheduled to operate from Manchester on behalf of TUI. If you want to see a seat map you can do a dummy holiday search on TUI and it will let you select your seats.

Sunwing provide the flight crew, the cabin is UK. The NWI Sunwing is also still on catch up after last couple of days and is about 3 hours behind. Hopefully back to normal by tomorrow

I flew as a pax on SmartLynx this week, operating on behalf of a different Airline. Great flight and Cabin Crew, however catering on board was very limited. This is something to watch out for when ACMI operators are bought in at short notice, don’t expect to be fed or watered en-route to your holiday destination. Stock up with supplies (except alcohol) before boarding as soon as you get a whiff that the airline is not the one you were expecting.

Some of the A320 leases will see TUIs own cabin crew operating, if you follow them on instagram there have been posts showing their crew having the training. I don’t know which specific aircraft, but I do know that the Titan ones are fully crewed by Titan plus a TUI cabin crew representative.