Package tour operator TUI AG (LON:TUI) is putting on more flights to pick up the slack created by the collapse of Monarch Airlines.
TUI, which has dropped the Thomson brand in the UK, said at an event to commemorate the rebranding that it had already added extra flights to its schedule and is looking to add more.
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"There will be an opportunity to look at putting some new routes on to the market. We've already done that a little for this winter,” TUI’s UK and Ireland managing director Nick Longman told Reuters news agency.
Longman added that TUI has no interest in competing for Monarch’s airport slots at UK airports.
The Thomson brand has been retired after just over 50 years; the company was formed when Canada’s Thomson Corporation, which now owns the Reuters news agency, acquired four existing UK tour operators: Gaytours, Luxitours, Riviera and Skytours.
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From now on, it will trade under the TUI – pronounced “to-wee” – brand; the letters stand for Touristik Union International.
“After taking more than 100 million customers on holiday over the last six decades as Thomson we understand that one size no longer fits all when it comes to travel," Longman said.
Switching the brand to the one used by the parent company elsewhere in Europe will also save the company money.