Tui confirmed on Wednesday (3 June) it had come to a "comprehensive agreement" with the aircraft manufacturer to cover a "large part" of the hit; Tui has previously said the grounding has impacted its earnings to the tune of hundreds of millions of Euros.
The operator had 61 of Boeing’s 737 Max on order when the aircraft was grounded in March 2019 following two fatal crashes in the space of just five months, killing 346 people. Boeing is working on a fix for a deep-seated flight control system understood to have been active when both aircraft crashes.
Boeing and Tui have agreed a revised delivery schedule or Tui’s Maxs which is set to push delivery back several years, "approximately two" according to Tui, while payments have also been adjusted. It means Tui will take delivery of less than half the number of Maxs it was due to receive over the next two years.
Tui said the move would significantly reduce its cash and financing requirements, and support its transition to a smaller fleet across its five European airlines with the coronavirus crisis expected to reduce air travel demand for several years.
Fritz Joussen, TUI Group chief executive, said: "We have reached a fair agreement that strengthens our long-standing relationship with Boeing. The agreement provides Tui with compensation for a large part of costs that were incurred due to the grounding of the 737 Max.
"The new delivery schedule gives us considerable flexibility because we will have fewer new aircraft delivered in the next years. This enables Tui to rapidly adapt its fleet growth to the currently challenging market environment.
"And it supports our plan to downsize the aircraft fleet and reduce the capital requirements for aircraft investments in the group."
Tui had 15 Maxs in service when the model was grounded, with eight more due to have been delivered in 2019.
