TUI Threatens to Leave Hanover if Easyjet Comes

German tourism giant TUI has threatened to pull its discount airliner Hapag-Lloyd Express (HLX) from Hanover airport if British rival Easyjet gets to offer flights from Germany's eighth-largest airport as well. TUI officials on Friday said the Hanover customer base could not carry another discount airline and added they would shift operations to nearby Hamburg instead. Lower Saxonian Premier Christian Wulff, a Christian Democrat, had already said that the state capital's airport should not try to attract new airlines at the risk of losing others. Lower Saxony holds a 35 percent stake in Hanover's airport, with the city of Hanover holding the same amount and another 30 percent owned by Frankfurt airport's managing company, Fraport. Easyjet began flying to Munich several years ago, but it has dramatically expanded its German flights this year with new services to and from Berlin (Schönefeld), Cologne/Bonn and Dortmund airports.