So another name change, another paint job! This must cost a fortune ive seen 4 different names on the side of our aircraft and it looks like i will be seeing 5... its not just the passengers that are confused its the crew also!

Thomson owner to axe 2,600 UK jobs
 

From Channel 4 news:

Thomson owner to axe 2,600 UK jobs

Last Modified: 15 Dec 2006
Source: ITN

Around 2,600 UK jobs are being axed by the owner of Thomson Holidays as part of a Europe-wide restructuring programme.

German travel group Tui is cutting a total of 3,600 posts in its tourism division, but said the UK will be affected more as market changes have been far more dramatic in the UK compared with central Europe.

Tui, which owns former Lunn Poly travel agent shops, said the job losses are part of a cost-cutting programme aimed at saving €250 million (£168m) in the tourism division by 2008.

Redundancies are never good news
 

Redundancies are never good news

I can report that the jobs of Pilots, cabin crew, engineering, crewing and operations are not at risk.

I guess that is of little comfort to those whose jobs are at risk but people on this forum are generally here because they are interested in flight & ground crew.

the BBC says "The changes are part of a 250m euros (£168m)-cost cutting programme, and came as TUI said it had ordered 65 Boeing aircraft in a deal worth about 2bn euros.

At the same time, TUI said it would combine its airlines into a single brand called TUIfly.com, and unveiled plans for a internet flight portal, an expansion of its hotel business.

It also announced a joint venture with the world's largest cruise operator, Carnival."

Anyone know about those aircraft orders?

TUI AG, the German tourism company that yesterday said it's cutting 3,600 jobs, will upgrade its fleet of aircraft with 65 new planes from Boeing Co. and shift focus from package tours to custom vacations to revive sales.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news...d=ai1AimfvgDEY

TUIfly.com???? And its hideous banal, banana livery?? Oh, for the return of the regal lady with her shield on aircraft tails all over the UK and Europe...........

Terrible news of the job cuts. Isn't this the second round of redundancies at the Thomson Travel Group in the UK? Didn't their direct sell division take a chop last year?

So will TuiFly be a low cost operator, high cost operator or are we still Mixed Mode thingamy jig?

£29 Luton to Belfast anyone?


Binder

As far as I can tell only the German airlines will be TUIFly .com & have the banana look.

The Brits will still be sky blue. Maybe

Last year TUI moved their UK HQ from London to an office block a mile from Luton Airport. A few months ago they also moved their Thomsonfly admin operation from the airport to the same office block. Since then they have operated 2 large coaches that shuttle all day and every day between the office block, airport and the railway station. Most of the day the coaches seem to never have more than one or two people on them. Seems to me that money is no object.

Well we all know it's cheaper and easier to sack staff in the UK than in other European States. Can you see the French or Germans getting rid of their own nationals when they can sack a few Brits. It's time we woke up!

ThomsonFly is going TUIFly in 2008. See the press release on the TUI Group website

tui job losses
 

It looks like there are problems afoot for Britannia/Thomsonfly. 3600 redundancies at TUI UK coming up. Anyone know anymore?

Yes, it is true that the airline is to be rebranded again! In the last couple of years Britannia was rebranded as Thomson.co.uk (operated by Britannia), then the full Thomsonfly name was adopted and now TUIfly!

Flight seats for all TUI airlines across Europe will all be sold through the tuifly web page and unfortunately they will all be branded in that awful yellow colour (looks a bit too similar to DHL livery if you ask me). Apparently they have chosen the yellow due to the fact that HLX is well recognised brand in Germany. Promotion of the new name will start in Jan 2007, but full roll out in 2008. The new aircraft will be delivered from 2010.

As far as the redundancies are concerned, its all back office staff. 900 of the 2600 have already gone (due to closure of Glasgow call centre, recruitment freezes etc), another 900 to go in the consulation period and a further 800 by 2008. Pilots, cabin crew and shop staff are not in scope for the first 90 day consultation period.

Britannia, Hapag Lloyd, Corsair - 3 very strong brands in their respective markets which have been messed about with and ruined.

The strategy (or lack of) is laughable, changing airline names and colour as often as the wind changes direction with little identity now left for it's branding or strategy, low cost and charter mix.

The idea of having a number of a number of European charters brought together under the same branding has some merits but the way it has been carried out shows a lack of stong leadership and strategy. - As for the obsessions of having the word fly in the name, like people need to be reminded it's an airline and that it flies?!

I'm on the outside looking in of course but that's how it appears.

Imagine how this looks to someone on the inside looking out!

We've got Frentzel trying desperately to save his job by annoucing yet another ill-thoughtout idea to have a global european brand. His presentation had almost zero content but much amusing managmentese, this is my favourite:

:ugh:

The simple fact it seems is that no-one in the tourism sections has the faintest idea how to grow the company. Peter Rothwell is doing an admirable job of presiding over the collapse of yet another British tour operator. Ironic that MyTravel announced a return to profit on the same day.

The 65 aircraft order is made up of a backlog of 24 737 aircraft as well as a further 41 new aircraft ordered in order to renew the fleet (with no expansion of the fleet in real terms)
There is no news as to what aircraft are making up the order for 41.

It was my understanding that the new yellow livery would be just on the stand alone German based HLX and Hapag-Lloyd as this is how it is worded on the TUI website press release.

We have had nothing sent to us or any information as staff so we are having to look at it all ourselves on the internet.

If anybody has any difinitive answers that would be great

:)

HLX and the "fly for the price of a taxi" slogan is a very successful & established brand here in Germany, it's just madness to replace it. as for tuifly, the brand just stinks of charter pax & the new red/yellow colours look cheap. bad move, i'm afraid.

I was under the impression the German airline ops would be merged and the HLX brand done away with.

If I may please correct you, TUI UK HQ are still based at Columbus House I and II, Westwood Business Park, Coventry. Thomson, and Thomsonfly, have now moved all their operations to Wigmore Place, Luton.

From Herr Frenzel on the TUi AG website:

“Our consistent branding will facilitate considerable efficiency increases in the use of marketing resources and will boost our sales opportunities”

What exactly shall they be marketting though? Will they still be marketting the charter holiday, which is still successful in mainland Europe, or will they be marketting the "dynamic pakage", passenger chooses own holiday, dates, flights, hotels etc, which is what the UK is fast moving towards?

They surely cannot have a pan-European marketting strategy, when different countries require different targets....the whole idea has been ill thought out.

At the end of the day, many people here in England don't even know about TUi (although it is obviously a massive name in Germany)...many don't even know about Thomsonfly.com, Herr Frenzel is expecting that within 2 years the same number of people that travel on Thomsonfly (approx 10 million on charter and scheduled services) shall be logging on to a company that they have heard nothing about?!?! All I shall say is that those fortunate enough to miss this round of job cuts, had best keep their fingers crossed in 2008 that again another load of UK job cuts will not effect them.