TUI reports losses of £63million and blames the chaos at Manchester Airport

Holiday group Tui has revealed a £63 million hit from the recent travel chaos that crippled airports and led to flight cancellations and lengthy delays. The firm said its customers were affected by about 200 cancelled flights in May and June, mainly relating to departures from Manchester Airport amid staff shortages.

"Excluding these additional costs, underlying group earnings before tax and interest would be €48 million euros, the first profitable quarter since the start of the pandemic," said Tui. The firm remained loss-making in the three months to the end of June due to the costs of the airport disruption, reporting underlying pre-tax losses of 27 million euros (£23 million) in its third quarter.

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It comes after airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick told airlines to cut their flight schedules following scenes of chaos as staff shortages left them struggling to cope with the sudden ramping up of demand for overseas holidays. Holidaymakers have suffered flight delays and cancellations along with lengthy queues as airports have struggled with baggage handling, air traffic control and security.

Tui's chief financial officer and incoming boss, Sebastian Ebel, said he will hold 'intensive' talks with airports and airlines, as well as resorts, as he looks to improve the customer experience. Mr Ebel, who takes over as chief executive at the end of next month when Fritz Joussen steps down, said the 'entire European airline sector continues to face challenges'.

He added: "We are consistently tackling the operational challenges of the restart. We want to offer our guests the usual high Tui standards of quality and service.

"The topics of quality