TUI has confirmed it is grounding its direct flights from London Gatwick to both Costa Rica and Saint Lucia from this spring and it also appears to have axed its direct service from Birmingham to Orlando Melbourne from next winter.
The operator has said it will no longer offer a direct flight to Costa Rica from the end of April, even though the destination saw a 5% increase in British visitors last year, to 50,000.
TUI has been operating a winter-only programme to Costa Rica since post-pandemic, flying to Liberia for easy access to the country’s Pacific coast resorts.
A spokesperson said it will continue to offer package holidays to the central American country on third-party airlines, but its website is only showing availability until the end of April at the moment.
TUI is also dropping its flights between Gatwick and Saint Lucia, from the end of May. It will continue to sell packages to the Caribbean island using other airlines, it said.
Saint Lucia Tourism Authority (SLTA) said it has been assured by TUI that the move won’t lead to a drop in visitor numbers.
SLTA Director UK & Europe Patricia Charlery-Leon said: “The Saint Lucia Tourism Authority is aware of TUI’s plans to end its service to the island from June. 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 with potentially longer lengths of stay as customers can tailor their stays beyond seven nights.
“With daily flights to the island with British Airways (six in the summer) from Gatwick airport and three flights a weeks on Virgin Atlantic from London Heathrow, Saint Lucia will remain well served from the UK market.
“SLTA will continue to work the TUI to offer clients a wonderful holiday experience.”
TUI also seems to have dropped its direct flight from Birmingham to Orlando Melbourne from October 2025. The operator has not confirmed the move, but for next winter TUI’s website is only showing packages from Birmingham to Orlando using indirect flights on third-party airlines flying via Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Paris.
