Thomsonfly is a British budget airline, a part of the TUI Group, which now incorporates the larger Britannia Airways.

Originally the airline's planes carried the Thomson colours and logo, but its aircraft were owned and operated by Britannia Airways (also a part of TUI). In effect Thomsonfly was a trading name of Britannia. In September 2004 the Thomson Group announced that Britannia would be rebranded as Thomsonfly.

Launch

The original airline began operations in 2004 with four Boeing 737-500s from a new passenger terminal at Coventry Airport and was immediately involved in controversy as local residents and Warwick District Council mounted a campaign against regular passenger flights from the airport, which had previously only been used for charter flights and freight aircraft. The case is still ongoing, but Thomsonfly continues to operate.

Destinations

Regular flights currently operate between Coventry and Jersey (route opened 31 March 2004), Málaga (31 March 2004), Valencia (31 March 2004), Venice (31 March 2004), Nice (22 April 2004), Palma de Mallorca (2 May 2004), Naples (25 May 2004), Marseille (2 June 2004), Pisa (2 June 2004), Rome (3 June 2004), Ibiza (12 June 2004), Amsterdam (28 September 2004), Alicante (15 October 2004), Cork (31 October 2004), Cologne/Bonn (1 November 2004), Shannon Airport (3 November 2004), Salzburg (26 November 2004), and Lyon (16 December 2004).

Routes are planned to open from Coventry to Faro (20 March 2005), Paris (4 April 2005), and Mahon (4 May 2005). Flights will also commence from Bournemouth to Amsterdam, Málaga, Paris, Pisa and Valencia (22 March 2005), Palma de Mallorca (23 March 2005), and Faro (24 March 2005), and from Doncaster Sheffield Airport to Alicante, Dublin, Faro, Jersey, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca and Prague (28 April 2005), Valencia, Paris and Pisa (20 May 2005), and Ibiza (10 June 2005).

The routes to Ibiza, Marseille, Nice and Rome will not operate during the winter.

External links

• Thomsonfly website