I’ve noticed that some of the TUI 787s are looking more and more ropey on the outside - patchwork paint jobs that in some cases still show the painting over of “Thomson” with TUI, and colours that are ever more faded.

Is TUI planning a livery refresh at some point, or have they just prioritised their spending elsewhere? Are the interiors in good shape or are they letting these slip a bit too?

Do you have an example, e.g., registration?

I believe when these birds were delivered, they said “Thomson” instead of TUI, hence the patch marks. However they do indeed look a bit faded.

[photoid]#7071461[/photoid]

As do most of the older Dreamliners

SXDFC wrote:

I believe when these birds were delivered, they said “Thomson” instead of TUI, hence the patch marks. However they do indeed look a bit faded.

[photoid]#7071461[/photoid]

Hmm, doesn‘t look that bad for me… nothing compared to how some TG- or VN-aircraft look when their colors fade.

Here are some closeups of the same aircraft:

G-TUID B787-8 MSN#36424 (2014 vs 2022)


G-TUIG / OO-LOE B787-8 MSN#36426 (2015 vs 2021)

se210 wrote:

Here are some closeups of the same aircraft:

G-TUID B787-8 MSN#36424 (2014 vs 2022)


G-TUIG / OO-LOE B787-8 MSN#36426 (2015 vs 2021)

Thanks for posting those - yes, that’s pretty much what I was getting at.

Other examples:

Tatty on the outside, tatty on the inside too!
Was very disappointed with the wear and tear on the interiors of their 787s when we flew MAN CUN MAN last year in their Premium cabin.

I don't know why but Dreamliners generally don't age well. I recently flew B787 (Qatar Airways) and the whole interior looked quite worn out.

LUKAS10 wrote:

I don't know why but Dreamliners generally don't age well. I recently flew B787 (Qatar Airways) and the whole interior looked quite worn out.

It's possible that in the quest to reduce weight some of the materials used in cabins may be more prone to aesthetic wear/fading. The paints used today while more environmentally friendly seem to lack the durability of older generation paints. Just my anecdotal take.

Most of the 2013 787-8 fleet have this tatty worn out paint look now. The touch up painting from Thomson to TUI hasn't helped. I've been observing them all summer this year in and out of GLA and only the 787-9 fleet look consistent and fresh. Someone on another forum suggested there was some sort of repaint deal with Boeing and that some were to be refreshed over this winter. What the truth in that is however, I don't know ? Perhaps bookmark a couple on FR24 to see if they head out to a known paint shop in the coming weeks and months ?

I wonder if any repaints will add the underbelly TUI logo like the Netherlands fleet carries ?

Here's a couple of my pictures from summer 2022.

PSX_20220419_120831 by Jann Eejit, on Flickr

PSX_20220519_072956 by Jann Eejit, on Flickr

It’s well known that Dreamliners don’t seem to be painted especially well( or at least they have a shorter paint lifespan than non-cfrp aircraft), lots of airlines have been having issues with paint fading and flacking, particularly on the wings of the 78.
however in this case I think it’s just a case of old paint, it easy to forget that a lot of these paintjobs are approaching 8-10 years in service and will therefore need a repaint in the next couple of years. The tui paint patches do make sense as it’s where the Thomson branding was painted over. At least it isn’t as bad as Scoot where on multiple birds you can see the carbon structure of the wing with paint coming off

Airlines and MRO's probably trying to work this out quietly because of a loudmouth rocking the boat....

LUKAS10 wrote:

I don't know why but Dreamliners generally don't age well. I recently flew B787 (Qatar Airways) and the whole interior looked quite worn out.

Like most products today; great sales talk, look great new, but not made to last the way things used to be made Carrying holiday makers with a high proportion of kids, with the usual messes and spillages doesn't help in the case of TUI.

For the last few months I have also been struck by how poor the TUI Dreamliners look. In particular, the light blue paint fades very badly. It always did right from the inception of this livery. As a result spot repairs stand out very strongly. Not sure what it is with light blue. Many Korean Air aircraft are showing the same faded and washed out look. Various airlines with a darker background colour, don't show this same level of fade over a similar time frame.

The TUI livery as a whole doesn't impress any more. Its very dated and boring IMO. TUI needs a fresh new look and image asap.

awthompson wrote:

LUKAS10 wrote:

I don't know why but Dreamliners generally don't age well. I recently flew B787 (Qatar Airways) and the whole interior looked quite worn out.

Like most products today; great sales talk, look great new, but not made to last the way things used to be made Carrying holiday makers with a high proportion of kids, with the usual messes and spillages doesn't help in the case of TUI.

For the last few months I have also been struck by how poor the TUI Dreamliners look. In particular, the light blue paint fades very badly. It always did right from the inception of this livery. As a result spot repairs stand out very strongly. Not sure what it is with light blue. Many Korean Air aircraft are showing the same faded and washed out look. Various airlines with a darker background colour, don't show this same level of fade over a similar time frame.

The TUI livery as a whole doesn't impress any more. Its very dated and boring IMO. TUI needs a fresh new look and image asap.

Nothing will ever be as good as the 90s Britannia livery, would love to see a retrojet

So when QR's 788's start to fade and look tatty, will they has a bust-up with Boeing too ??

LUKAS10 wrote:

I don't know why but Dreamliners generally don't age well. I recently flew B787 (Qatar Airways) and the whole interior looked quite worn out.

Of course, you realize that is not a Boeing issue but an airline one!

Ratty paint and interiors don’t really surprise me. People have a tendency to think of 787s as still a new plane but many are approaching almost 10 years old with often times their original paint and interior.

LUKAS10 wrote:

I don't know why but Dreamliners generally don't age well. I recently flew B787 (Qatar Airways) and the whole interior looked quite worn out.

I recently flew on an easyJet A320 and it was in a worn out state. The return flight was on a NEO with a broken seat beside me and some wall panels flapping about in turbulence. Does this mean the A320 line doesn't age well? No, of course not.

Due to the recent pandemic, airlines will very likely be stretching out the time between cabin refreshes.

As for the patchy paintwork.
Well, if you decide upon colours are are known the fade in the sun, particularly at altitude, then that's what happens. This isn't purely a 787 thing.
Look at pictures of Northwest Airlines planes from the 80s and 90s. Airbus, Boeing and MD aircraft... all with patchy paintwork.
US Airlines form the 90s and 00s, and United Airlines from the 90s and 00s all had faded paintwork with patches where something was changed or added to the livery.

And remember, some 787s are approaching 10 years old, likely still wearing their as delivered paintwork.

Polot wrote:

Ratty paint and interiors don’t really surprise me. People have a tendency to think of 787s as still a new plane but many are approaching almost 10 years old with often times their original paint and interior.

An excellent point here, shoot the first A350 built is approaching 10 years old! That’s mind blowing to me.

N14AZ wrote:

Do you have an example, e.g., registration?

Can't remember their numbers, but Miles of Smiles and Living the Dream are particularly bad on the outside.

You can see where it used to say Thompson and parts of the aircraft look like they've been sandblasted.

Metchalus wrote:

N14AZ wrote:

Do you have an example, e.g., registration?

Can't remember their numbers, but Miles of Smiles and Living the Dream are particularly bad on the outside.

You can see where it used to say Thompson and parts of the aircraft look like they've been sandblasted.

And not surprisingly those are some of TUI’s oldest 787s. Living the Dream in particular is their first 787, and will be 10 years old in May. It has probably never been fully repainted.

Reminds me of the never ending BA rebrands from 1973 to 1984, you could se clearly where "British airways" had been slapped on, surrounded by a big clean rectangle of white fuselage and then later on with "British". Northwest's 1989 rebrand was the same, it was never even completed before they rebranded again, with so many hybrids.

On a serious note, the TUI B787-8s are really obvious, you can eyeball the change from some way away, it is obvious and it doesn't look great. BUT it's not anyone's priority at the moment given the damage to the balance sheet of COVID.

I saw suggested somewhere that TUI are getting a semi brand refresh next year sometime. The question is will it be a Aer Lingus style to semi Euro white or something less harsh .

skipness1E wrote:

Reminds me of the never ending BA rebrands from 1973 to 1984, you could se clearly where "British airways" had been slapped on, surrounded by a big clean rectangle of white fuselage and then later on with "British". Northwest's 1989 rebrand was the same, it was never even completed before they rebranded again, with so many hybrids.

On a serious note, the TUI B787-8s are really obvious, you can eyeball the change from some way away, it is obvious and it doesn't look great. BUT it's not anyone's priority at the moment given the damage to the balance sheet of COVID.

I don’t think branding was important given the state of their reliability and lack of aircraft this summer. Some of the 738’s that were bought in were in different liveries, one was even just all white with TUI titles. I think for this year it was try and keep to schedule as much as possible.

You’d think in quieter times things like this might be addressed but their reliability hasn’t exactly improved since the winter season took over.

Seems to be a good image of TUI as a whole right now, at least in the UK. I remember a few years back they had a pretty good reputation, in recent months however I've seen scores of people saying they're terrible. Am I just not looking at the whole picture or is something going on?

I flew G-TUIN last month from LGW to PUJ and returned on G-TUIJ, Both 787-9s and among the newer in the TUI uk fleet. The onboard experience was not great especially as we were in premium club. No amenity kits both ways. They weren’t particularly clean inside which was surprising on the outbound given the plane had been parked for 3 days prior at Gatwick. The entertainment system had all functions but films and tv shows turned off as according to the cabin manager the system couldn’t cope with everyone on it. Meals service has been reduced so all on one tray now and not like it used to be. The mid flight ice cream has now gone too. On the return there were no premium headsets loaded either. Crew were good but no where as visible or generous with drinks as they used to be. Given how TUI have hiked there prices since the demise of Thomas Cook it was a really disappointing experience for what we paid and I don’t think I’ll do it again. A shame as I’ve always sworn by TUI premium club for about 7 trips now.