The boss of Tui Travel today hailed the holiday firm’s purchase of 15 Dreamliner jets for giving it a “strong, competitive advantage”, boosting bookings and helping third-quarter operating profit to rise 21% to £92 million.
Chief executive Peter Long said the Boeing 787, which was beset by faults and battery fires when it was launched, had pushed up passenger demand for its long-haul trips.
“The plane is quieter, it means reduced jet lag as the cabin is less pressurised, and it’s very spacious,” he said.
Long — who is holidaying in his house in Majorca this summer — brushed off the impact of the UK’s warm July and August.
“If there was a shocking summer, awful weather every day, you might make slightly higher profits,” he said.
“But we can’t run a business that says ‘it’s got to be terrible weather for us to do well’. We’re much-more resilient than that.”
The owner of Thomson Holidays said top-selling destinations this summer are the Spanish and Greek islands, Mexico the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
Long said Germans had expected more from their national team than England at the World Cup.
“In Germany it was much weaker [than England] whilst the tournament was on, then we saw a big bookings recovery afterwards,” he said.
The company is in talks with its 55% owner, Germany’s TUI, about a £4.4 billion merger — but Long said: “I’m not allowed to say anything about it. There’s no new news.”
