Tui’s head of commercial has dismissed suggestions that the operator’s half a million new seats from regional airports came in response to the rise of rival operator Jet2holidays.
The UK’s largest operator said it is to add 500,000 seats as it reveals its summer 2019 programme today.
Jet2holidays has long focussed on flights to summer sun destinations from regional airports, and has grown its Atol to 2.9 million, surpassing Thomas Cook last year’s.
Tui remains the largest UK Atol holder, with a licence to carry 5.4 million passengers.
Richard Sofer, head of commercial at Tui, said: “A big part of [the new programme] is offering breadth and choice to our customers, giving them more choice from a departure point of view.
When asked whether the increase in regional flying was in any way connected to Jet2holidays’ recent results, he said: “No. We’ve for a long period of time had a full coverage across all the regional airports, that goes back many years. It’s a reflection of our own sales demands”.
He added: “What you see coming through is a response to that demand. We are putting extra capacity into these areas to make sure we cater for all our new and existing customers.”
More: Tui to extend long-haul regional flying to Yorkshire in 2019