Tui says its summer 2019 programme is its “most ambitious” yet boasting 720,000 more seats, 40 new routes and 16 new resorts.
The tour operator says it has significantly boosted capacity in Turkey, Greece and Croatia, as well as Cape Verde which will benefit from 200,000 seats.
More than 500,000 additional seats have been added across six regional airports, while five new UK-based aircraft will be introduced.
Launched on Monday (March 26), Tui said its summer 2019 programme expands on the “soaring popularity” of Croatia, the “enduring appeal” and “consistent value” of Greece and the “resurgence” of Turkey. Nearly 50% of its new routes will fly to these destinations.
It also massively extends its regional flying programme the majority of its 720,000 new seats will be split across Doncaster Sheffield, Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow, East Midlands and Birmingham airports, with nine other regional airports also set to benefit.
Richard Sofer, commercial director Tui UK and Ireland, said: “Summer 2019 is the most ambitious programme we have ever introduced.
“We are focusing firmly on growing our amazing range of holidays through an extended regional flying programming, concentrated on the core destinations holidaymakers want to travel to, while offering the flexibility of holiday duration they want.”
Some 65% of Tui’s 40 new routes (26), flying from 15 UK airports, are exclusive to the operator, including new flights to 19 overseas airports in eight countries.
Elsewhere, it will open 16 new Tui and First Choice “unique concept resorts”. These include five adult only Tui Sensimar resorts, three in Greece (Crete, Zakynthos and Santorini), one in Dalaman in Turkey and one in Agadir in Morocco.
A new Family Life resort in Antalya, Turkey, will increase Tui’s range to 24 across 18 destinations, and there is further options for holidaymakers with a new First Choice holiday village in The Canaries and new First Choice Splashworlds in Egypt and the Dominican Republic.
Sofer added: “We’ve added capacity where we know we have customer demand and will be opening 16 new flagship resorts across Tui and First Choice affirming our commitment to our exclusive hotel concepts.
“Our intention is to open up new possibilities to existing customers whilst attracting new holiday makers to the Tui and First Choice brands. This is just the first step in an exciting vision which will evolve over the next 12 months and beyond.”
Tui’s summer 2019 programme will go on sale on April 5.