TUI Group

History

The origins of the company lie in the industrial and transportation company, Preussag AG, which was originally formed as a German mining company. It was incorporated on 9 October 1923, as Preußische Bergwerks- und Hütten-Aktiengesellschaft (Prussian Mine and Foundry Company). In 1927 it was merged with the Ruhr coal company, Hibernia AG, and electricity utility to become the Vereinigte Elekrizitäts und Bergwerks AG (VEBA AG) (United Electrical and Mining Company).

With the sale of Salzgitter AG and purchase of the navigation and logistics company Hapag-Lloyd AG in 1997, Preussag AG became a global enterprise in the service and leisure industry. In addition the company acquired 25% of Thomas Cook shares in 1997, which it doubled the following year. On 2 February 1999, the Carlson Leisure Group merged with Thomas Cook into a holding company owned by the German bank, Westdeutsche Landesbank, Carlson Inc and Preussag. However, in mid-2000 Preussag acquired Thomas Cook's rival Thomson Travel and was forced to sell its majority 50.1% stake in Thomas Cook by regulatory authorities.

Its logistics activities, concentrated in the shipping sector, were kept separate and bundled within Hapag-Lloyd AG. A majority stake in Hapag-Lloyd was sold to the Albert Ballin consortium of investors in March 2009 and a further stake was sold to Ballin in February 2012, as TUI worked to exit from the shipping business and to optimize its tourism business with expansion in Russia, China and India.

TUI announced a merger of its travel division with the British tour operator First Choice in March 2007, which was approved by the European Commission on 4 June 2007, on the condition that the merged company sell Budget Travel in Ireland. TUI held a 55% stake in the new company, TUI Travel PLC, which began operations in September 2007.

In June 2014 the company announced it would fully merge with TUI Travel to create a united group with a value of $US9.7 billion. The merger was completed on 17 December 2014 and the combined business began trading on the Frankfurt and London stock exchanges.

Operations

The new TUI Group has:

Tour operators

Airlines

TUI Group owns six European airlines, inherited from TUI Travel, making it the largest tourism group in Europe. The group airlines operate both scheduled and charter flights to more than 150 destinations worldwide departing from more than 60 airports in 9 European countries. TUI Airlines carries millions of holiday travellers and business passengers every year.

In May 2015 the TUI Group announced to rebrand its existing five airline brands under one airline banner in the course of the coming years, to be titled ‘TUI’. Arkefly, Jetairfly, Thomson Airways, TUIfly and TUIfly Nordic will maintain the separate air operator's certificates (AOCs), but will operate under "one central organisation" with "one engineering & maintenance function."

Cruise lines

Sponsorship

TUI sponsored Bundesliga club Hannover 96. The airline branch TUIfly's main hub is at Hannover-Langenhagen Airport and it had sponsored the football team since the 2002-2003 season. On 31 March 2011, TUI announced Hannover 96 would be playing "with a smile on their chest" for another 3 years, as it extended the sponsorship contract. The current sponsor contract ran out, but it made TUI the longest running association with any of the 18 Bundesliga teams, with 12 years as the sponsor. As part of the sponsorship TUI was the shirt sponsor, as well as having had advertisements on the perimeter fencing of the AWD-Arena, Hannover's home stadium. There was also advertising in the stadium, on the billboards by the pitch and banners around the stadium, and TUI will also remain the sponsor of the Hannover 96 Soccer School.