Yet another carrier has stepped into the longhaul route void left vacant by the demise of Thomas Cook Airlines UK. Last week, TUI fly (Germany) (X3, Hannover) took the decision to launch long-haul flights, a role that its sister companies in the UK, Scandinavia, Belgium, and the Netherlands have been doing for some time.

These long-haul services will form part of the German leisure airline's Winter 2020/21 programme. Initially, TUI will fly passengers from Germany to Caribbean and Mexican destinations using two B787s.

At this stage, it is unclear exactly where these aircraft will come from and which variants they will be. A spokesperson for the airline said: "We have not decided yet how to allocate the planes since we still have options with Boeing we could convert into orders. We just received two new 787s this month." The group's UK division, TUI Airways (BY, London Luton) received B787-9 G-TUIN (msn 64293) on November 14, while sistership G-TUIO (msn 64294) is now also flying for the carrier, having operated its first commercial flight from Birmingham, GB to Bridgetown on November 23.

According to the ch-aviation PRO airlines module, TUI fly does not currently have any B787s registered and operates a mixed fleet of thirty-two B737-800s, one B737-700, one wet-leased A319-100 and one wet-leased A321-100. However, fellow subsidiary TUI fly Belgium operates two B787-8s, TUI fly Netherlands has three B787-8s, while the TUI Airways has fourteen, eight B787-8s, and six B787-9s.

As well as the aircraft type and their source, there is yet to be confirmation on the selected destinations for TUI fly. The airline's spokesperson did, however, add: "Destinations will be defined after we know which hotel locations need to be covered but Cancún should be on there." He continued: "That’s the plan but of course it could also change if planning proposes something different."

In Mexico, TUI Airways presently flies to, in addition to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and San José Cabo. In the Caribbean, it flies direct to Montego Bay, Punta Cana, St. Lucia Hewanorra, and Bridgetown. Sister airline TUI fly Belgium currently also flies to Cancun and Varadero in these regions, whereas TUI fly Netherlands uses its B787-8s to Bonaire, Curacao, Holguin, Paramaribo International, as well as Cancun.