TUI CEO Markets & Airlines David Burling will resign from the company’s executive board next month.

He will be replaced David Schelp, previously CEO of TUI’s activities business Musement, from 1 January. 

David Burling has spent 34 years with TUI and was previously Managing Director of TUI UK & Ireland, from 2011 till 2015. 

He has been a member of TUI’s Group Exectuive Board since 2015, and was appointed CEO of Markets & Airlines in 2018.

Announcing his resignation, TUI CEO Sebastian Ebel said: “We are very grateful to David Burling. A professional life in tourism, internationally recognised and with enormous integrity.”

Describing David as ‘a great contributor to TUI’, he added: “I am really very grateful, we are all very grateful, of what he has achieved with TUI.”

David said: “TUI is back on track after the pandemic – sooner than many expected. After this successful year, it is the right time to hand over in order to continue the necessary transformation. 

“David Schelp is an excellent successor with whom I have enjoyed a very long working relationship.”

David Burling played a central role in bringing together TUI UK with TUI AG during the merger, and he also led TUI’s joint venture in Canada for several years.

Chair of TUI supervisory board Dr Dieter Zetshce said: “The Supervisory Board and I personally would like to thank David Burling for his great commitment and enormous achievements for TUI. 

“He has shaped TUI’s tour operator business for several decades – first in the UK and then at international Group level. 

“He is an internationally recognised leader with experience, integrity and an excellent track record. 

“The tour operator business was hit hard by the pandemic. David Burling has made a key contribution to ensuring that TUI has come out of the pandemic in good shape. 

“Thanks to his leadership the TUI tour operators are now back on a stable footing. 

“David Burling has built up a powerful team that will now tackle the next stage of the transformation.”