TUI fly (Germany) (X3, Hannover) will decide this year whether to convert some of its outstanding orders for B737-8s to B737-10s, managing director Oliver Lackmann told Air Transport World.

So far, TUI Group committed to seventy B737 MAX. In 2017, it announced it will convert eighteen orders to MAX 10s, with the remainder still being MAX 8s. The MAX 10s will, however, be delivered to other group units, not the German one.

TUI fly is due to take its first MAX 8 in mid-March 2019, with a further five to follow by the end of the year. According to the current plan, it will then take four MAX 8s each in 2020 and 2021, and a further seven in 2022.

If the carrier decides to convert any of the orders to MAX 10s, it would take them only in 2027. Lackmann said that TUI fly would potentially convert four MAX 8s to the larger type.

As new MAX 8s start arriving, TUI fly will retire its last B737-700, D-AHXG (msn 35140), in April 2019. Subsequently, it will only operate B737-800s, of which it currently has thirty-one, and MAX 8s. It will deploy the newer generation Boeing narrowbodies predominantly on the longest routes, such as to Dubai World Central, Sal Amilcar Cabral International, and Boa Vista Rabil International.

TUI fly (Belgium) (TB, Brussels National) already operates four MAX 8s, TUI fly (Netherlands) (OR, Amsterdam Schiphol) - three, TUI Airways (BY, London Luton) - six, and TUI fly Nordic (6B, Stockholm Arlanda) - two.