TUI has become the latest company to sign a distribution agreement with Ryanair.
The deal means all Ryanair flights will soon be bookable directly with TUI and can be dynamically packaged with the travel company’s full offering. It will give TUI access to over a million additional flights a year.
TUI said Ryanair’s flights ‘complement the already extensive and growing range of TUI’s own flights and existing connections with partner airlines’.
“There is new potential, especially for destinations that are not yet seamlessly connected,” TUI added.
“This means that TUI will provide individual travellers an even more attractive options for city breaks and short trips in the future. Furthermore, the additional flights can also be integrated into package tours – when booking at travel agencies and online.
“With this cooperation, TUI is significantly expanding the variety and frequency of its flight offerings, particularly in the UK. Travellers will benefit from even more destinations and greater flexibility, with millions of new combination options.”
TUI added: “The partnership with Ryanair will be particularly beneficial for the First Choice brand, which re-launched in the UK last September. The additional volume and flexibility of flights will make it significantly more attractive to the new younger generation of travellers.”
Ryanair Director Marketing and Digital Dara Brady said: “We are pleased to announce this partnership with TUI, which will enable TUI customers to now book Ryanair flights, seats, and bags as part of their holiday package with the guarantee that they will have full price transparency of Ryanair products, and that they will receive any information regarding their flight directly from Ryanair as well as having direct access to their booking through their myRyanair account.”
TUI Group Chief Strategy Officer & CEO Holiday Experiences Peter Krüger said the agreement follows the Group’s strategy of greater digitalisation of its business segments. In the past financial year, the number of TUI dynamically packaged trips at TUI has grown to over 2.5 million.
“The cooperation with Ryanair will now further expand the range of dynamically packaged TUI holidays and at the same time achieve a further milestone in digitalisation. In addition, the cooperation also contributes to our growth strategy – the aim is to achieve additional growth through more products and new guests,” he said.
TUI Group CEO Markets & Airlines David Schelp said: “The agreement we have now reached will create more travel options for our guests than ever before. In the UK in particular, our guests will be able to choose from an even wider range of flights in future – and in addition to a strong program with TUI Airline’s own flights.”
The option of booking Ryanair flights as part of TUI holidays will be gradually introduced in the coming weeks.
The Ryanair/TUI deal comes two weeks after Ryanair announced a distribution agreement with Kiwi.com and three weeks after is agreed loveholidays could package its flights.
