Aircraft
TUI Places Initial Cost of Max Groundings at €200 Million
The world’s largest travel group anticipates the new Boeing narrowbodies will not return to service before mid-July.
A TUI 737 Max 8 approaches Tenerife South Airport in the Canary Islands. (Photo: Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by Hawkeye UK)
A TUI 737 Max 8 approaches Tenerife South Airport in the Canary Islands. (Photo: Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by Hawkeye UK)

Pointing to the “considerable uncertainty” around when the Boeing 737 Max will return to service, Hanover-based TUI Group has put in place a contingency plan through mid-July to substitute the capacity it lost with the grounding of its 15 Max jets and a further eight of the type scheduled for delivery by mid-May. In an investors’ update issued Friday, the world’s largest integrated travel company said it has taken precautions, along with other airlines, to cover the lost capacity until mid-July due to uncertainty about the date of the Max’s return to service. “No dates have yet been announced for modifications of the existing aircraft model by the manufacturer, neither for approval of such modifications by the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency,” it said.