TUI Netherlands has announced a collaboration with easyJet which will enable it to sell packages to selected easyJet destinations in the summer of 2017.

Under the agreement, widely reported in Dutch media, the Dutch tour operator will purchase blocks of seats on easyJet flights from Amsterdam Schiphol to London Gatwick, Lisbon, Rome Fiumicino, Liverpool and Milan Malpensa. Its own subsidiary TUI fly (Netherlands) (OR, Amsterdam Schiphol) does not currently offer services on these routes.

Jacques Crijnen, Product Manager of City Breaks at TUI Netherlands, says that the partnership will enable the tour operator to offer "well-tailored packages at a competitive price."

The partnership comes after reports earlier this year suggested easyJet could take a stake in another TUI Group carrier, TUI fly (Germany) (X3, Hannover). The tie-up was intended to provide the UK-based LCC access to a European Union-based AOC while at the same time, offer the German leisure specialist a financial lifeline. Since then, TUIfly (Germany) has been linked to the establishment of a consolidated carrier based around its fleet as well as that of Air Berlin (1991) (Berlin Tegel) subsidiary Niki (Austria) (Vienna).