Tui to buy more Boeings after Dreamliner lands

On the day its first Dreamliner touched down in the UK, Tui Travel yesterday agreed a multi-billion-pound deal to buy more Boeing jets.

The company behind Thomson Holidays, Crystal Ski and LateRooms is buying 60 of Boeing’s narrow-bodied, fuel-efficient 737 Max jets, with an option to take 90 more.

The list price of the purchase is £4bn but Tui said it had secured the planes for a “significant discount”. The size of the deal means it still needs to be voted through by shareholders. If agreed, the planes will be delivered by Boeing between January 2018 and March 2023.

Boeing says its 737 Max burns 13 per cent less fuel than current 737 models, and is 40 per cent quieter. The plane is due to enter production in 2015.

Tui, which runs six European airlines with a total of 141 aircraft, yesterday received the first of its 13 Boeing 787 Dreamliners after the order was delayed by the plane’s battery problems and worldwide grounding.

It has been a good week for deal making at Boeing, which saw Singapore Airlines become the first carrier to commit to buying its next-generation stretched 787s, with an order for 30.

EasyJet is also set to place a major order for at least 100 updated Airbus or Boeing jets, worth around $10bn (£7bn), with the same number again in options.