TUI and Boeing have agreed a “comprehensive package” of measures to offset the consequences of the grounding of the 737 MAX.

While the details of the agreement remain confidential, it provides compensation which covers a significant portion of the financial impact, as well as credits for future aircraft orders, TUI said.

The 737 MAX fleet was grounded in March last year following two crashes that killed 346 people.

An Ethiopian Airlines plane came down outside Addis Ababa in early 2019, following a Lion Air crash in October 2018.

TUI was operating 15 of the aircraft at the time of the grounding.

The compensation will be realised over the next two years.

In addition, both parties have agreed to a revised delivery schedule for the 61 737 MAX aircraft on order, meaning that TUI will get fewer 737 MAX deliveries from Boeing than previously planned in the next several years.

The associated payment schedules have been adapted accordingly.

As a result of this less than half of the originally planned 737 MAX aircraft will be delivered to TUI in the next two years.

On average, compared with the original scheduling, the 737 MAX deliveries will be delayed by approximately two years.

Fritz Joussen, chief executive of TUI Group, commented on the agreement with Boeing: “We have reached a fair agreement that strengthens our long-standing relationship with Boeing.

“The agreement provides TUI with compensation for a large part of costs that were incurred due to the grounding of the 737 MAX.

“The new delivery schedule gives us considerable flexibility because we will have fewer new aircraft delivered in the next years.

“This enables TUI to rapidly adapt its fleet growth to the currently challenging market environment.

“And it supports our plan to downsize the aircraft fleet and reduce the capital requirements for aircraft investments in the group.”