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INTERNATIONAL. Leading tourism group TUI has signed a five-year deal with Gate Retail Onboard to exclusively handle inflight retail services across its five airline brands. The move will generate +25% more revenue from inflight sales over the life of the contract than previously, noted TUI Group.
Benefits will range from more efficient processes and streamlining of procurement to more competitive prices for passengers, said the tourism group.
The scope of the contract includes onboard sales of duty free and food & beverage as well as pre-order sales in the UK and the Nordics. Gate Retail already managed other inflight business for TUI in Europe, a move bolstered in the Nordic region through parent gategroup’s acquisition of regional concessionaire Inflight Service, which we revealed on 1 December.
The pre-order expertise of Inflight Service looks set to bring added benefits to TUI through Gate Retail, with customers able to order in advance and collect items at their seats on outbound journeys – and to place orders with crew for return trips.
This service is scheduled to be introduced in the UK and Ireland in October 2016. In parallel with this, TUI is entering into a partnership with DHL as its lead logistics partner for the five airlines.
Preparations for the implementation have been ongoing since July 2015, said TUI Group, and the UK and Ireland will be the first source markets to transition to Gate Retail Onboard on 1 March 2016.
TUI Group Managing Director Aviation Henrik Homann said: “Our focus on “˜making travel experiences special’ underpins everything we do: The consolidation of the services, another milestone of the “˜OneAviation’ programme, will mean better inflight services for our passengers, generate additional profits for the Group and make TUI one of the largest inflight retailers in the industry, cementing our competitive position.”
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Gate Retail Onboard will manage inflight services for TUI Group’s five airline brands |
TUI Group inflight retail and inflight supply chain programmes are embedded in the “˜OneAviation’ programme, bringing together the economies of scale of a fleet of 140 planes and purchasing power of its 13 million annual passengers.
The programme is run by David Burling, Member of the Executive Board of TUI Group, in charge of Northern Region, Airlines and Hotel Purchasing and Henrik Homann.
The five tour operator airlines of TUI include Thomson Airways, TUIfly Germany, TUIfly Nordic, TUIfly Netherlands and Jetairfly.
