TUI Airline, operating 125 modern medium- and long-haul aircraft, including the largest Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet among European leisure airlines, and Airxelerate have formed a long-term strategic partnership to establish a future-ready and scalable B2B distribution environment for tour operator sales across all markets.
The partnership marks a significant step in advancing TUI Airline’s distribution framework and reinforcing its positioning within the European leisure aviation sector. At the heart of the partnership are the cloud-based solutions Calisto Air and Calisto Ancillary.
The collaboration extends far beyond a technical implementation, forming the foundation for the long-term strategic evolution of TUI Airline’s B2B tour operator distribution model, enabling greater commercial flexibility, improved inventory control and sustainable revenue management.
Founded in Berlin in 2018, Airxelerate bridges the technological gap between airlines and tour operators with its innovative IT solutions under the Calisto brand.
The cloud-based products Calisto Air, Calisto Tour and Calisto Ancillary enable seamless integration between airline PSS environments and tour operator reservation platforms. Calisto Air, Calisto Tour and Calisto Ancillary enable seamless integration between airline PSS environments and tour operator reservation platforms.
As part of the collaboration, TUI Airline strengthens its modern distribution model for tour operators by combining dedicated capacities with dynamic availability, including pooling mechanisms and real-time pricing. This approach increases commercial flexibility while enabling more precise inventory control across markets and faster responsiveness to demand shifts.
At the same time, ancillary services such as seat reservations and ancillary products seamlessly integrate into the tour operator’s booking process and across all relevant touchpoints — including travel agency sales and post-booking interactions. This creates additional revenue opportunities while enabling tour operators to deliver a more comprehensive and customer-focused travel experience.
The partnership between TUI Airline and Airxelerate significantly enhances automation and scalability within TUI Airline’s B2B tour operator distribution. Repetitive processes are digitised, system connectivity is optimised, and capacity management becomes increasingly data driven. The result is reduced operational complexity, faster market responsiveness and improved commercial agility across regions.
“Our ambition is clear: to become Europe’s most reliable and commercially progressive airline partner for tour operators. With Calisto Air by Airxelerate, we are investing in state-of-the-art technology that enables automation, enhances transparency, and ensures scalable growth. At the same time, we are unlocking new ancillary revenue opportunities for our partners – empowering them to grow stronger and more profitably alongside us,” said Peter Glade, Chief Commercial Officer, TUI Airline.
By combining dynamic pricing, structured capacity management and fully integrated ancillary sales, TUI Airline not only drives greater efficiency but also creates additional revenue potential. Moreover, the airline reinforces its competitive positioning and underlines its ambition to remain a preferred airline partner for tour operators across Europe.
Nina Sifi, CEO of Airxelerate, said: “Our role is to support TUI Airline in further strengthening its market position towards tour operators across all regions. With the Calisto solutions, we enable greater flexibility in capacity models, more dynamic pricing capabilities and fully integrated ancillary sales. This drives commercial agility, reinforces B2B relationships and contributes to long-term, sustainable revenue growth.”
