TUI fly Belgium,[1][2] legally incorporated as TUI Airlines Belgium nv and formerly branded Jetairfly,[2] is a Belgian scheduled and charter airline with its registered office at Brussels Airport.[3]

TUI fly Belgium
IATA ICAO Call sign
TB JAF BEAUTY
Founded13 November 2003; 20 years ago (2003-11-13)
(as Jetairfly)
Commenced operations23 November 2005; 18 years ago (2005-11-23)
Operating bases
Fleet size25
Destinations134
Parent companyTUI Group
HeadquartersZaventem, Flemish Brabant, Belgium
Key peopleElie Bruyninckx (President)
Websitewww.tuifly.be

The airline is a subsidiary of the TUI Group and part of the TUI Airlines. TUI Airlines also incorporates the sister companies TUI fly Netherlands, Corsair International (France), TUI fly Deutschland (Germany), TUI Airways (United Kingdom) and TUI fly Nordic (Sweden).

History

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TUI fly Belgium head office in Ostend

The airline was established as Sunrise in 2002 as a home carrier for tour operator Jetair, part of the tourism group TUI AG and re-established as TUI Airlines Belgium on 13 November 2003.[4] The original plans were to operate two aircraft, but after charter company Sobelair (home carrier for Jetair) ceased its operations, started its operations with 5 Boeing 737-400. On 23 November 2005, the airline was renamed Jetairfly as part of the rebranding around the trade name Jetair.

In January 2012, Jetairfly announced that Jet4you, a low-cost Moroccan carrier and also a subsidiary of the TUI AG Group, would be fully integrated in Jetairfly. The merger was complete in April 2012.[5] In March 2012, Jetairfly officially became a full scheduled airline, while previously many of their flights were conducted as charter flights. As a result, all flights can be booked in both directions even by non-EU citizens.[6]

In the beginning of 2013, Jetairfly was the first leisure airline worldwide to introduce the Embraer 190 in its fleet. In the autumn of 2013, the new office building and maintenance hangar "Jetairport" was inaugurated at Brussels Airport. In December 2013, Jetairfly was the first and only Belgian airline to introduce the brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.[7]

On 14 November 2014, Jetairfly sealed a wet-lease deal to provide up to four aircraft with crew to operate on behalf of ECAir, the flag carrier of the Republic of the Congo, from mid-2015 on.[8][9]

In 2015, it was the first and only Belgian airline with an ISO 14001 certification for their focus on sustainability and reducing their ecological footprint.[10][11]

On 13 May 2015, it was announced by the TUI Group that all five of TUI's airline subsidiaries will be named TUI fly,[12] whilst keeping their separate Air Operator's Certificate, taking over three years to complete.[13] On 19 October 2016, Jetairfly received the new brand name TUI fly Belgium with the legal name still being TUI Airlines Belgium NV[3] as the second airline within the TUI group which underwent the name change.[2]

Destinations

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TUI fly Belgium has a network of 180 routes to more than 100 airports in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Caribbean, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Africa and the United States. The airline's home base is Brussels Airport, but flights are also operated from eight other bases: Liège Airport, Ostend–Bruges International Airport, Antwerp Airport, Lille Airport in France, Mohammed V International Airport Casablanca and Marrakesh Menara Airport in Morocco.[14]

Fleet

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TUI fly Belgium Boeing 737 MAX 8
 
TUI fly Belgium Boeing 787-8

Current fleet

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As of October 2024, TUI fly Belgium operates the following aircraft:[15][16]

TUIfly Belgium fleet
Aircraft In
service
Orders Passengers Notes
P Y Total
Boeing 737-700 4 148 148 To be retired and replaced by Boeing 737 MAX.[17]
Boeing 737-800 7 189 189
Boeing 737 MAX 8 5 10[18] To replace Boeing 737 Next Generation.
Boeing 737 MAX 10 4[18] TBA
Boeing 787-8 1 25 280 305
Embraer E195-E2[19] 3 136 136
Total 20 14

Fleet modernisation

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TUI Group has 70 737 MAXs on order for the group.[20] The order consists of 18 MAX 10 aircraft,[21] with the remaining variants unspecified as of June 2017. In 2018 TUI fly Belgium was set to receive a total of four new MAX aircraft. Over the next four years they were scheduled to receive a total of 15 Boeing 737 MAX 8 and four Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft.[18] Deliveries of the new aircraft to the TUI Group commenced in January 2018 with the first aircraft, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, delivered to TUI fly Belgium.[22]

Former fleet

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A former TUI fly Belgium Embraer 190 in 2019. These have been replaced by the Embraer E195-E2.

TUI fly Belgium has previously operated the following aircraft:[23]

TUI fly Belgium former fleet
Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
Airbus A320-200 3 2018 2018 Leased from Orange2Fly.
4 2018 2019 Leased from SmartLynx Airlines Estonia.
1 2021 2021
Airbus A321-200 1 2019 2019 Leased from SmartLynx Airlines.
Airbus A330-200 1 2018 2018 Leased from AirTanker Services.
Boeing 737-400 7 2005 2012
Boeing 737-500 1 2007 2012
Boeing 767-300ER 4 2008 2022
Embraer 190 4 2013 2023
Fokker 100 1 2005 2008

Service

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Short- and medium-haul

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On short-and medium haul flights, there are three types of service offered on all Economy Class aircraft:

  • Economy Class with buy on board service offering snacks and drinks for purchase.
  • Economy Class with standard service, including catering (only on flights to Cabo Verde and Senegal).
  • Economy Class with Service Plus/VIP Selection, offering premium meals, free alcohol, newspapers. Access to the VIP lounge at Brussels-Zaventem Airport, with separate check-in and security fast lane.[24]

Long-haul

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Boeing 767
  • Economy Class with standard service including catering (only on long haul flights).
  • Comfort Class with lounge access and security fast lane at Brussels-Zaventem Airport, premium meals including free alcohol, newspapers, extra legroom and amenity kits.
Boeing 787[25]
  • Economy Class with standard service including catering.
  • Economy+ Class with extra legroom and enhanced standard services.
  • Premium Club with lounge access and security fast lane at Brussels-Zaventem Airport, premium meals including free alcohol, newspapers, extra-legroom seats and amenity kits.

On all long-haul flights there is AVOD for every passenger.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Cheap flight tickets | Book a flight with TUI fly". tuifly.be.
  2. ^ a b c ch-aviation.com – Jetairfly rebrands as TUIfly Belgium 21 October 2016
  3. ^ a b "Company information | TUI fly". tuifly.be.
  4. ^ "TUI Airlines Belgium". Airline History. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Marokkaanse Jet4you gaat op in Belgische Jetairfly" (in Dutch). Nieuwsblad.be. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  6. ^ "Jetairfly" (PDF). 22 March 2012.
  7. ^ Flightsim.to (4 October 2020). "PMDG 737-800 TUI BE | OO-JAA 2018 for Microsoft Flight Simulator | MSFS". Flightsim.to. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  8. ^ "Congo's ECAIR adds first Jetairfly B737 to fleet". Ch-aviation.com. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Belgium's Jetairfly Seals Wet-Lease Deal With ECAir". Aerosmart.com. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  10. ^ "Jetairfly, the first Belgian airline with ISO 14001 certification". 20 March 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  11. ^ "Jetairfly ecological footprint". Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  12. ^ "Name change TUIfly will become TUI fly". March 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  13. ^ "TUI Group to rebrand five airlines as 'TUI'". Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  14. ^ "Jetairfly annonce une base à Lille" (in French). air-journal.fr. 22 January 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  15. ^ "Our fleet | TUI fly". tuifly.be.
  16. ^ "Tui Airlines Belgium Fleet Details and History". planespotters.net. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  17. ^ "TUI Group to simplify fleet, mulls more B737 MAX 10s". ch-aviation.com. 25 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  18. ^ a b c "TUI fly krijgt naast B737 MAX8 ook vier MAX10's in de vloot (Dutch)". flightlevel.be. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  19. ^ "Belgium's TUI fly takes first E195-E2". ch-aviation.com. 9 May 2023.
  20. ^ Boeing 737 Orders & Deliveries
  21. ^ "Paris: Leisure Group TUI converts 18 orders to 737 Max 10". Flightglobal.com. 19 June 2017.
  22. ^ "TUI Group announce selection of 18 Boeing 737 MAX 10s". aviation24.be. 19 June 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  23. ^ "Jetairfly Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  24. ^ Spinnae, David (2 December 2010). "Jetairfly breidt uit : nieuwe lijn, verhoogde vluchtfrequenties, vlootuitbreiding met de nieuwste technologie" (in Dutch). Flightlevel. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  25. ^ "Home". JetairFly Dreamliner. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
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