TUI has been forced to reduce its summer holiday programme from Belfast due to the ongoing uncertainty about when international travel can resume from the Province.
TUI UK & Ireland says a “lack of government certainty surrounding travel” has had an impact on the demand for holidays BUT the leading operator remains optimistic and plans to return with full summer holiday programme in 2022.
In a statement, TUI UK & Ireland said: “TUI UK & Ireland confirms that, due to the current lockdown measures in Northern Ireland and continued uncertainty surrounding travel, it will reduce its summer 2021 holiday programme from Belfast International Airport.
“In order to be able to offer the holidays its customers know and love, TUI needs to plan its flying programme in advance.”
Simon Eaton, Head of Ireland at TUI said: “We know how important our flying programme is to our Northern Ireland customers and their local communities, which is why we are incredibly sad to confirm we’ve had to reduce our summer holiday programme from Belfast International Airport. We feel that we have no choice, and this is the unfortunate impact of the continued lack of certainty from Government, which we know also affects local jobs and families.
“We’d like to thank our local customers and colleagues for their patience, understanding and ongoing support throughout these difficult times.
“We’re really looking forward to resuming our full holiday programme from Belfast International Airport in 2022, so that we can take our customers on their well-deserved holidays and bring the excitement of regular air travel back to the region.”
With regards to Summer 2021, TUI hope to continue to take local customers on summer holidays from Belfast to Palma, Reus, Dalaman and Corfu. Customers impacted by the reduction in schedule will be contacted by TUI, or their local travel agent with options for rebooking.
TUI’s summer 2022 holiday programme from Belfast International Airport is currently scheduled to operate as normal with 14 flights every week, and it is already on sale for customers looking to plan ahead and have something to look forward to.
