BY
TOM
TOMSON
London Gatwick Airport
John Murphy(DFO)
| Thomsonfly | ||
|---|---|---|
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| IATA BY |
ICAO TOM |
Callsign TOMSON |
| Founded | 1962 (as Euravia) | |
| Hubs | Manchester Airport London Gatwick Airport |
|
| Alliance | TUI Airlines | |
| Fleet size | 47 | |
| Destinations | 87 | |
| Parent company | TUI Airlines-(TUI Group) | |
| Company slogan | Don't just travel, travel with a smile | |
| Headquarters | Luton, United Kingdom | |
| Key people | Chris Browne MD) John Murphy(DFO) |
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| Website: http://www.thomsonfly.com | ||
Thomsonfly was a British airline owned by the TUI Travel PLC. Thomsonfly is the largest charter airline in the world, and also operates scheduled services to 20 European cities. The airline has several bases including Birmingham, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Coventry, Glasgow, Liverpool, London Gatwick, Belfast, London Luton, Manchester, Newcastle, Doncaster-Sheffield and Durham Tees Valley.
Thomsonfly Limited holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.[1]
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Thomsonfly traces its roots to its parent airline, Britannia Airways, founded by Ted Langton. The airline began as Euravia in 1962. The name was changed to Britannia Airways and remained until December 2004. Britannia grew rapidly when it acquired Boeing 737-200 aircraft, and was the European launch customer for the Boeing 767 and then moved to an all-Boeing 767 and 757 fleet in the mid-1990s, with a total fleet of 45 aircraft by 2004.
Thomson Holidays subsequently embraced a web-oriented rebranding and used the Thomsonfly name to include all of the UK flying operations, with the larger Britannia Airways rebranded as Thomsonfly in 2005.
Scheduled operations began on 31 March 2004 with four Boeing 737-500 aircraft, from a new passenger terminal at Coventry Airport. The airline became involved in controversy when it took over ownership of the airport lease. A number of local residents and Warwick District Council mounted a campaign against regular passenger flights from the airport, which had previously been used for both passenger and freight aircraft. The planning case was contentious and lengthy, and Thomsonfly continued to operate from Coventry awaiting the outcome of the case. Planning permission was granted for a larger passenger terminal and the ownership of the lease has passed to CAFCO, an airport and property development company with no links to TUI.
On 28 April 2005, Thomsonfly became the first airline to fly from Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield. Thomsonfly was also the first airline to operate direct long haul services from the airport. The airline remains the dominant carrier at Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield, as well as Coventry Airport and Bournemouth Airport, where a base was also established.
Thomsonfly was the best on-time charter airline in 2004 as measured by the Air Transport Users' Council and also won the 'Travel Weekly' best UK charter airline award for 2004. The airline is part of TUI Airline Management (TAM).
In March 2008 the tourism division of the airline's parent group TUI AG, merged with First Choice Holidays PLC which has seen both Thomson and First Choice Holidays combined. The new company is known as TUI Travel PLC and the company's head office is in Crawley, West Sussex although the UK & Ireland head office is in Luton.
The current Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways airlines shared the same Air Operators Certificate as of 1 May 2008 and announced on 13 June 2008 that the merged fleet of 75 aircraft will be re-branded as Thomson Airways from 1 May 2009. The two liveries of 'First Choice' and 'Thomsonfly' will be continued with the additional decal, "Operated by Thomson Airways", until the rebranding of the liveries in May 2009. TUI Travel Plc has also recently announced that 10 aircraft will leave the fleet by summer 2009, mainly consisting of First Choice Airways Airbus A320/A321 fleet.
In October 2008, the Thomsonfly fleet comprised:[2]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers[3] | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-300 | 10 | 148 | Short Haul |
| Boeing 737-800 | 13 | 189 | Short & Mid haul |
| Boeing 757-200 | 14 | 235 | Short & Mid haul |
| Boeing 767-200ER | 2 | 290 | Short, Mid & Long haul |
| Boeing 767-300ER | 7 | 283 | Short, Mid & Long haul |
| Total | 46 |
The average age of the Thomsonfly fleet was 10.1 years as of October 2008.[4]
.jpg) Britannia Airways Boeing 737-204 (1985) |
 Britannia Airways Boeing 757-200 in Thomson colours (2003) |
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