We have flown with what used to be Thomson Airways from Birmingham Airport in July 2010 to Verona, Italy and June 2012 to Naples, Italy. Thomson Airways was renamed to TUI in 2017. They were branded as Thomson Airways from 2008 until they were rebranded as TUI Airways in 2017. As far as I am aware, TUI is still in operation.

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From Thomson to TUI Airways at Birmingham Airport


From Thomson to TUI Airways at Birmingham Airport


We have flown with what used to be Thomson Airways from Birmingham Airport in July 2010 to Verona, Italy and June 2012 to Naples, Italy. Thomson Airways was renamed to TUI in 2017. They were branded as Thomson Airways from 2008 until they were rebranded as TUI Airways in 2017. As far as I am aware, TUI is still in operation.


TUI Airways

In 2007 Thomsonfly merged with First Choice Airways and was rebranded to Thomson Airways in 2008. This followed the merger of the travel divisions of TUI Group and First Choice Holidays in September 2007. By 2015 it was announced that TUI would be rebranding all operations to TUI. Thomson Airways changed their legal name to TUI Airways from October 2017.

Thomson / TUI has destinations all over Europe, to the Caribbean and India from Birmingham Airport.

 

In October 2010, while in Park Street Gardens in Eastside, I saw this Thomson Airways plane flying overhead. Back in July 2010, we flew to Verona in Italy for the Lake Garda holiday. But at the time, I didn't take any exteriors of the plane (only photos out of the plane window above the clouds).

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Park St Gdns (Oct 2010).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

In June 2012 at the Terminal at Birmingham Airport, heading to get our flight to Naples in Italy.  There was still First Choice branding on the airbridge at the time.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Birmingham Airport (June 2012) (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

Our Thomson plane would be a Boeing 757-200. On both this and the July 2010 flight 2 years earlier, we had an on board meal heated up in the plane. We came back the week later from Naples at night.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Birmingham Airport (June 2012) (2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

In June 2014 at the Terminal building in Birmingham Airport, saw this Thomson Airways plane, as we waited to catch our flight to Malaga in Spain with Monarch. I think this was a Boeing 737-800

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Birmingham Airport (June 2014).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

During the August 2014 visit to Blakesley Hall, I saw this plane fly overhead. I think it was Thomson Airways, with their distinctive sky blue livery. (I don't think it was Flybe or KLM).

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Blakesley Hall (Aug 2014).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

Seen in March 2015 was this Thomson Airways plane (below). Seen from a train as it departed from Birmingham International Station.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Birmingham Airport (March 2015).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

This Thomson Airways plane was also visible from the train back in October 2016. I had just caught a train from Birmingham International. The airport buses that takes you from the terminal to the steps of the plane (or vice versa) were seen nearby as well.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Birmingham Airport (Oct 2016).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

In January 2017, TUI planes were still branded as Thomson at the time. This might have been a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It was seen from a the 966 NXWM Platinum bus.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Birmingham Airport (Jan 2017).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

Now onto February 2017 with this Thomson plane. The view from Car Park 5, but a tree was in the way.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Birmingham Airport (Feb 2017).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

I first saw a TUI branded plane in June 2017. Was at the Airport while waiting to catch our Flybe flight to Lyon in France.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/TUI Birmingham Airport (June 2017).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

In June 2018, I saw this TUI plane close to the Terminal building, as we headed to catch our flight to Pisa in Italy with Jet2. The airbridge was now being advertised by MG. Birmingham the home of MG

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/TUI Birmingham Airport (June 2018).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

The first time I saw a TUI branded plane in flight was in August 2018. This was from the viewing area near the A45 Coventry Road.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/TUI Birmingham Airport (Aug 2018) (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

Get off the bus near the Holiday Inn, then cross at the lights, then walk around the semi circle path until you are in view of the runway.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/TUI Birmingham Airport (Aug 2018) (2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

I've only been to this viewing area once, but saw several other planes taking off over the A45. I have loads of memories of coming into land over this end.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/TUI Birmingham Airport (Aug 2018) (3).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

Now onto November 2018 with this view of a TUI plane, from the the X1 NXWM Platinum bus. The buses have their own semi circle road close to the A45 that leads to the Airport and NEC.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/TUI Birmingham Airport (Nov 2018).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

My last view from an X1 NXWM Platinum bus was of this pair of TUI planes during August 2019.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/TUI Birmingham Airport (Aug 2019).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

BONUS THOMSON TUI PHOTOS

At Malaga Airport in Spain during June 2014, I saw this Thomson Airways plane, a Boeing 737-800 at the airport.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Malaga Airport (June 2014) (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

We were waiting to catch our delayed Monarch flight back to Birmingham (we waited around for hours as was a French Air Traffic Control strike that day).

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Malaga Airport (June 2014) (2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

By this point we had got on board our Monarch plane and I got some more views of the Thomson plane.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Malaga Airport (June 2014) (3).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

One more view of Thomson as a British Airways plane went behind at Malaga.

dndimg alt="Thomson Airways" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Thomson Airways Malaga Airport (June 2014) (4).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

In June 2017, while waiting to fly back to Birmingham with Flybe, saw this TUI related plane from Jetairfly at Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport. They were founded in 2003, but started operations in 2005. They were rebranded to TUI fly Belgium in 2016. Although the plane I saw in 2017 was still branded as Jetairfly.

dndimg alt="JetairFly" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/JetairFly at Lyon Airport (June 2017) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

I think this would have been a view from the terminal building at Lyon Airport of Jetairfly. It has the same tail fin logo as Thomson and TUI.

dndimg alt="JetairFly" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/JetairFly at Lyon Airport (June 2017) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

This view from the Flybe plane as we had just boarded it as Jetairfly was connected to the airbridge. My seat on Flybe was near the wing on the left.

dndimg alt="JetairFly" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/JetairFly at Lyon Airport (June 2017) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Photos taken by Elliott Brown.

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