TUI has announced it will scrap direct flights to three major destinations from spring.
The travel operator will cease its direct service from Birmingham to Orlando in Florida — and its flights from London Gatwick to Costa Rica and Saint Lucia.
A representative told the Standard: “We will still be providing TUI packages to these destinations through third-party flying. It just won’t be TUI Airways.”
Flights to the Central American country Costa Rica will stop from the end of April.
Its popularity has soared in recent years, with figures showing that in the first six months of 2024, it attracted 14.5 per cent more tourists compared with the same period the previous year.
Some 2.8 per cent of its tourists came from the UK, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) reported.
Since the post-pandemic period, TUI has been operating a winter-only programme in Costa Rica, according to Travel Gossip. The airline flies to Liberia for easy access to the country's Pacific coast resorts.
The company will cease Saint Lucia route operations from London Gatwick in late May.
TUI clarified the full changes to the Standard as follows:
Patricia Charlery-Leon, St Lucia Tourism Authority (SLTA) director UK & Europe, told Travel Gossip that the SLTA “is aware of Tui's plans to end its service to the island”.
She added: "Whilst the initial news was disappointing, the operator is confident that with airlines flying regularly to the destination it will see the same numbers of arrivals in due course.
"SLTA will continue to work with TUI to offer clients a wonderful holiday experience.”
Regarding the Birmingham flights, TUI has confirmed that only the service from the West Midlands city to Orlando will be discontinued, with flights to Orlando from London Gatwick and Manchester continuing as usual.
This confirmation of flight cancellations comes shortly after Ryanair announced it will discontinue services to various destinations, including Aalborg in Denmark, following the introduction of a new aviation tax earlier this month.
