TUI plans extra flight capacity after Monarch failure

Europe's largest tour operator TUI is putting on extra flights to make up for capacity lost after this month's collapse of Monarch, TUI's UK and Ireland boss said Wednesday. Shares of leading travel companies and airlines rose after Monarch went bust, with investors betting that intense competition in the sector could ease. At an event to announce TUI's rebranding of its UK operation to TUI UK from Thomson, the company's UK and Ireland Managing Director Nick Longman said it had already laid on extra flights and is looking to add more. "There will be an opportunity to look at putting some new routes on to the market. We've already done that a little for this winter," Longman said, adding that TUI is also looking at more routes for next summer. Unlike British Airways owner IAG and budget airline easyJet, TUI is not interested in acquiring Monarch slots at UK airports, Longman said, adding that extra capacity could be obtained from TUI's existing slot base and by working with other airline partners.<br/>