Thomson Airways (London Luton) will take delivery of an additional two B787-8s bringing the total number of Dreamliners it will operate to ten. Outlining its 5-year growth plan aimed at what it termed "changing the face of holiday flying", the TUI Travel Group subsidiary said it will also take delivery of 47 new B737 MAX aircraft from Boeing (BOE, Washington National); part of TUI's overall order for 60 of the type.
"The vision will be delivered through an upgraded fleet, including the announcement of two further Dreamliners and the delivery of 47 new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft by 2020. This will give Thomson Airways one of the youngest and most state-of-the-art fleets in the UK at an average age of just five years," it said Monday.
The carrier expects to operate all ten B787s by summer 2016 while its first B737 MAX aircraft are expected to arrive from 2018 onwards.
Thomson plans to use its growing B787 fleet to increase its long-haul capacity and fly to new destinations with direct flights from Europe to Guanacaste, Costa Rica, to begin in November 2015. Other destinations currently being considered include expanding operations in the Eastern Caribbean to islands like St. Lucia Hewanorra and Antigua, in the Antilles to Bonaire and Curacao, and South East Asia to Vietnam and Malaysia.
Currently, it operates six B787-8s, five B767-300s, fifteen B757-200s, and thirty-five B737-800s, on scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.
