Deliveries of Boeing 737 Max planes to the airline of travel company Tui have been delayed by two to three years, Sebastian Ebel, the chief executive of the tour operator said on Wednesday after the company posted results.

He also said that necessary price increases normalised with inflation and there had been a surprisingly good start to dynamic travel bundling with Ryanair in the UK.

Europe’s largest tour operator reported higher profit in the 2024 financial year and projected further growth next year, albeit at a slower pace than in 2024, buoyed by its holiday business.

While demand has remained robust, some airlines' results this year were impacted by rising costs associated with labour disruptions, maintenance, or weaker business bookings. Tui has managed to dodge some of these challenges and bolstered profits with its packaged holidays.

Packaged holiday businesses have flourished in 2024 as inflationary pressures have spurred consumers to seek cheaper travel options.

Tui’s underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the year ended September jumped 33 per cent to €1.3 billion from €900 million last year. That beat analyst expectations of €1.293 billion in an LSEG poll.

Operating profit for its packaged holiday business increased to 1.1 billion in 2024, from 822 million the previous year, offsetting weakness in other parts of the business such as in western Europe.

Tui noted a drop in long-haul customers from the Netherlands and Belgium as well as one-off costs tied to IT investment and plane repairs which resulted in an underlying EBIT in Europe’s western region of €10 million in 2024, sinking from €79 million last year.

Shares were down 7.5 per cent at the market opening.

For 2025, the company forecasts EBIT to increase 7 per cent to 10 per cent, and revenue by 5 per cent to 10 per cent. – Reuters

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