The extra Boeing 737-800 aircraft will allow Tui to double summer seat capacity to 195,000 with an increase to 27 flights a week to Mediterranean favourites like Crete, Cyprus and Spain’s Balearic and Canary islands.
The updates include more than 70,000 extra seats to the Balearics, more than 60,000 to Greece, 40,000 to the Canaries and 25,000 to Turkey.
Tui said the expansion would also allow agents to offer their clients a wider range of durations rather than just seven- and 14-night options, including 10- and 11-night holidays.
The move comes just a couple of months after rival Jet2.com and Jet2holidays confirmed Bournemouth would next summer become its 12th UK base.
“Tui has been flying out of Bournemouth for 19 years and during that time, demand for Mediterranean holidays has soared in the region,” said commercial director Phil Iveson on Friday (24 May).
“With the addition of this new aircraft we’re helping meet that demand and with exclusive routes to Kefalonia and Paphos and more flexible durations we are making sure our customers can travel from their local airport to their ideal holiday destination”.
The additional aircraft will create 30 new cabin crew jobs this summer, said Tui. Crew relations manager Nicola Bendall, who has worked for the airline and operator for 24 years, said the additional capacity couldn’t be more welcome.
"This second aircraft is a massive vote of confidence for the future of Bournemouth," she said. Our passengers have been asking for this additional capacity for a long time, and it’s created a real energy among the crew."
Bournemouth airport managing director Steve Gill added: “We have a long and proud partnership with Tui and are delighted to be welcoming their second aircraft which provides passengers with even more choice and flexibility from their local airport.
“We expect to handle more than one million passengers this year and Tui’s commitment to Bournemouth is a big part of that continued growth.”
In April, Tui confirmed it was putting an extra 345,000 seats on sale from the UK for summer 2025, 15,000 of which were due to be at Bournemouth.
