TUI boss: we will use partner airlines when facing strong demand

The boss of Europe's largest tour operator, TUI, said on Friday it would use partner airlines like Ryanair to carry passengers when it is facing strong demand, enabling it to remain conservative on its own airline schedule. Despite the continuing post-pandemic demand for travel, a number of airlines have had to limit capacity growth targets because of delivery delays from plane makers, which are still grappling with supply-chain challenges. "If you look at the package model, we are conservative in capacity, we envisaged the market would be more competitive this year," TUI CEO Sebastian Ebel told reporters in London. Competition from easyJet and British Airways in the packaged-holidays businesses has grown across the European market. "We want to sell with a good margin, at times where there is oversupply we will benefit from dynamic access to these suppliers," Ebel said. In terms of demand, he said Turkey, once a popular cheap destination for British and European tourists, was becoming less so due to higher costs.<br/>