Ryanair and Tui recently announced that an official distribution partnership had been concluded. The tour operator is now increasingly including low-coster flight segments in package tours. Numerous markets are affected.
In the past, Ryanair has taken strong action against so-called OTAs that sold the low-cost airline's tickets without a distribution agreement. In the last few months there have been some official contracts, including also concluded with the travel group Tui. On the basis of this contract, the tour operator is now increasingly making use of Ryanair's flight offerings and including such flight segments in package tours.
For Tui customers whose flights are operated by Ryanair, there are a few differences compared to direct bookings with the low-cost airline, provided it is a package holiday. According to the travel company's statement, there should be no difference in the included services compared to full charter flights. A contract has been concluded with Ryanair in this regard.
First, the package holiday cooperation in the Danish market will be ramped up. Tui wants to offer passengers more choice and thus flexibility, as customers will no longer be dependent on rigid weekly charter flights in the future. However, Tui has not yet announced the exact routes on which Ryanair flights are included in package holidays.
As part of so-called “dynamic package tours” (“X-Reisen”), many tour operators are already booking flight segments with low-cost airlines such as Ryanair, Wizz Air, Vueling, Easyjet and other providers. However, there are not always official sales agreements, as tickets are often purchased on the open market as needed.
Incidentally, the collaboration between Tui and Ryanair follows a collaboration with competitor Wizz Air. For some time now there have been flights from Vienna-Schwechat At Tui Austria, flight segments operated by the pink low-cost airline are also included in package tours. This collaboration will take place in the 2024 summer flight schedule also extended to Budapest.