TUI fly (Germany) (X3, Hannover) must further adjust its schedules as the worldwide grounding of the B737 MAX continues, CEO Oliver Lackmann has told Air Transport World. With the leisure carrier now not expecting a return of the aircraft type until the end of this year, and with fleet planning for early 2020 underway, it may not be able to operate direct from Germany to, for example, Dubai World Central and Abu Dhabi International in the United Arab Emirates, or Sal Amilcar Cabral International or Boa Vista Rabil International in Cape Verde.
Real clarity will not come until the results of official investigations and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification flights are available in September. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg told analysts on July 24 that he was confident the MAX would be back in service in October after the test flights.
However, the following day the FAA distanced itself from Muilenburg's comments, saying that regulators did not have a timeline for vetting safety upgrades, Reuters reported.
Lackmann stressed that for any readmission and startup process for the MAX, transparency was needed to regain trust. A simple name change for the series would not outsmart passengers, he said but added it was up to Boeing to decide what to call its aircraft.
The German wing of TUI Group's air operation has four B737-8s due for delivery. It currently operates thirty-five B737-800s, one B737-700, one A320-200, and two A321-200s, according to the ch-aviation fleets module. Its sole B737-700 is currently only scheduled to operate until November 2 according to ch-aviation analysis of the carrier's schedule data.
However, its sister companies in the group have already received fifteen MAX machines out of a total of 23 due for delivery. TUI Airways has six with three to be delivered, TUI fly (Belgium) has four, TUI fly (Netherlands) has three with one to be delivered, and TUI fly Nordic has two.
