TUI has mapped out its 2024 plans for Newcastle International Airport, setting out its biggest ever holiday programme for the northern airport.
The leisure airline has been busily putting plans into place for the 2024 summer peak season, with recent disclosures of expanded network services and the second based aircraft in the southern England location of Bournemouth.
Strong momentum through Q1 2023
At the heart of this strong forward planning is the recent revelation of strong travel booking momentum through the first quarter of 2023, in the lead up to this year’s summer travel season.
More than 500,000 customers holidayed with TUI over Easter with the load factor expected to be in the range of 95 per cent, which is broadly in line with pre-Covid level
The revelation of the strong uptake in bookings is perhaps unsurprising as air travel demand continues to surge ahead generally. With this year’s peak season seemingly in the bag so to speak, TUI has positively set its sights on forward planning for 2024.
Newcastle plans for 2024
The UK’s leading travel brand will base an additional fifth aircraft at the North East’s largest Airport, adding further choice for 2024 across their portfolio of 29 destinations in 12 countries.
The expansion will represent an additional 120,000 seats on sale compared to summer 2023. With demand favouring the sunny Mediterranean destinations, it’s perhaps a no-brainer that the airline is targeting this market from 2024.
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Newcastle International Airport will see more flights to customer holiday favourites such as Corfu and Rhodes (Greece), Larnaca and Paphos (Cyprus), Tenerife and Majorca (Spain) and Enfidha (Tunisia).
The summer 2024 programme will also see an increase in flights to the popular destinations of Antalya and Dalaman in Turkey, with select days operated by TUI’s state-of-the-art Dreamliner aircraft.
TUI will also serve seven exclusive destinations from Newcastle for summer 2024, which include Cancun (Mexico), Enfidha (Tunisia), Orlando-Melbourne Florida (USA), Naples (Italy) and Hurghada (Egypt).
New flights are to be laid on to Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) and Sal (Cape Verde), commonly referred to as the African Caribbean, which will be extended to operate year-round from the winter 2023-24 season.
Management statements
Leon McQuaid, Director of Aviation Development at Newcastle International Airport said: “This is fantastic news and we are delighted that TUI has reacted to strong holiday demand from the North East of England with this significant growth and capacity investment at our Airport.”
“With more TUI seats than ever before from Newcastle International Airport, this is excellent news for holiday makers who will benefit from more choice and greater holiday duration flexibility.”
“TUI is a long standing and valued partner of Newcastle International Airport having served our region for 60 years. We look forward to welcoming more TUI holiday makers than ever before next year.’’
Andrew Flintham, TUI managing director, said: “Our customers want more flexibility and to be able to choose a departure airport that is close to home – and that is exactly what the new TUI 2024 summer programme has been designed to do.”
“The 2024 programme will see extra flights departing from across the UK. Newcastle International Airport will see a significant increase in flight seats offering more holidays to those living in the region.”
Summary
TUI’s planned programme for summer 2024 from Newcastle will include:
- Up to 78 weekly flights to 29 destinations in 12 countries
- Over 250,000 seats across Spain, the Balearics and the Canaries, over 140,000 seats to Greece and over 95,000 seats to Turkey
- Daily flights to Palma de Mallorca, Spain and Dalaman, Turkey
- 5 weekly flights to Tenerife, Spain
- 4 weekly flights to Corfu and Rhodes, Greece
- 3 weekly flights to Larnaca and Paphos, Cyprus and Enfidha, Tunisia
- Additional flights to Hurghada and Sharm El Eheikh, Egypt giving new opportunities for 10 & 11 holidays.
