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Dow futures, nasdaq futures, russell 2000 futures, bitcoin usd, cmc crypto 200, tui doubles down on flexible tour packages to help reverse losses.

TUI’s winter bookings might have been lackluster, but early summer bookings for the world’s largest tour operator have picked up, as the company plans to focus on giving more flexibility to travelers in booking flights, hotels and activities individually, in addition to its wholesale packaged tours, to grow its customer base in underrepresented markets.

This is according to Sebastian Ebel, chairman and CEO of the TUI Group executive board, who delivered the company’s 2023 first quarter interim results update on Tuesday.

The first quarter saw 3.3 million customers, compared with 2.3 million in the previous 2022 period, while early bookings for 2023 winter and summer seasons sit at 8.7 million. Ebel said this shows its customer base’s appetite remains largely unaffected by the global inflationary conditions.

The company is seeing a 6 percent increase in pricing for its summer offerings, considerably lower than the 29 percent seen in its winter offering.

“The 6 percent would not be enough to cover the price increases,” Ebel said, “but they would be very close to it. And what we have seen in the last weeks gives us the confidence that prices have become even stronger than they had been before.”

TUI is still showing losses. But Ebel detailed how the group had managed to half its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization losses compared to the previous year, from $294 million to $164 million.

The company reportedly lost market share as the  leading U.K. tour operator  and needs to repay a  mountain of state debt  to the re-estimated tune of $966 million, yet remains cautiously optimistic about the year ahead.

Full-year market expectations are for $1 billion underlying EBIT. Mathias Kiep, TUI’s chief financial officer, declined to comment on this forecast just ahead of the company’s annual general meeting on Tuesday that follows the earnings presentation.

Emphasis on Enlarging Customer Portfolio 

Ebel admitted the company needed to focus on flexibility in booking components like flights, hotels and activities in its underrepresented markets to remain competitive. TUI recently launched dynamic packaging in Germany, which allows booking components to be unbundled. This is in addition to a new tours platform in Belgium, with more rollouts of flexible product options in other markets expected to continue throughout 2023.

“We are now bringing recommendation-only products to the market, flight-only products to the market, and of course, everything around Musement with the activity and transfer business. So overall, by enlarging the product portfolio, we can bring more customers, more products to our existing customers, but we are also targeting to getting new customers,” he added.

Increase in Flexibility and Growth in App Bookings

Musement and its tour operators’ customer base continued to perform well in bringing new customers into the TUI fold as did the company’s app. Ebel said the tours and activities space remained essential to extend the TUI brand and get new customers into the system.

The company has seen a significant increase in bookings via the app, from 3.3 percent in the first quarter of last year to 4.8 percent, as its customer communication and direct engagement on the platform remained valuable. Bookable add-on products, especially for hotels, would also be expanded on the app in the year ahead.

Competitor Growth 

When pressed about TUI losing its dominance in the U.K. to Jet2 Holidays, Ebel said it was expected they would fill the void left by Thomas Cook. He further stated the company’s expansion into dynamic packaging would add to its competitiveness “with limited IT investments and the ability to stay on the same cost structure.”

“That’s why Germany is so successful. We increased the product portfolio. So customers find products they haven’t found with us, which doesn’t mean that we want to sell the hotel next to the Rio hotel, but we want to gain our market share in Paris, in Amsterdam, in Miami, so where we have not been strong. 

“I mean you can imagine that with my soccer background, a draw is never a good result, or sometimes it is a good result, but it’s not the result you would like to see. And therefore, winning is important. The management has built a strong plan. We are executing the plan, and we are very positive about the outcome.”

2030 Sustainability Targets

Ebel said the company had released its  science-based targets for 2030  and would continue to put sustainability at the heart of what TUI does.

Its 2030 emission reduction targets included a 24 percent reduction for TUI Airline, at least 46.2 percent for hotels and 27.5 percent for cruise.

“It’s a change of attitude and a change of methodology. A good example is we will open our new office building in summer here in Hanover, where we move from three locations. We have put solar panels everywhere and we will be carbon neutral. The payback of such an investment is two and a half to three years.

“So it’s a great investment. It’s the same on the hotel side. It’s more complex because every hotel is different. So it’s a lot of work, but the returns are very attractive in time period from three to five years.”

Vote on Capital Raise  

Kiep also confirmed the company would be voting on a capital raise to repay the government’s Economic Stabilization Fund at its annual general meeting on Tuesday, which had been recalculated from some $775 million to just short of $1 billion. The due process could take some time, but the company would proceed with the raise under the right market conditions, to be completed before the end of 2023. 

TUI’s results  covered the period from 1 October to 31 Dec ember, 2022 with reported first-quarter revenue of $4.08 billion, up $1.5 billion on the prior year (first quarter 2022: $2.57 billion) and exceeding the company’s pre-pandemic levels in first quarter of 2019 of $4 billion.

Get breaking travel news and exclusive hotel, airline, and tourism research and insights at Skift.com.

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Tui warns over Omicron hit - but sees holidaymakers splash out on pricier breaks next year

Capacity for the current season could be at the lower end of expectations after recent trends, the travel operator said as it reported another year of steep losses.

Political reporter @JPFordRojas

Wednesday 8 December 2021 14:12, UK

Travel giant Tui has warned that latest COVID fears could hit its winter holiday programme even as it looks to a bounce back in demand for the year ahead.

The company said consumers were splashing out on pricier breaks in 2022 but that it now looked likely to have to cut capacity for the current season "towards the lower end" of its plans.

Shares fell 6% on the update, despite Tui pointing to signs of recovering demand and a "trend towards higher value travel" - though they later clawed back losses and were 2% lower in early afternoon trading.

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The company said average selling prices for the coming year were 15% ahead of pre-pandemic levels while for the summer they are 23% higher.

It said: "For winter and the coming year, it is clear that holidaymakers are choosing higher-value offers, more package tours and are also prepared to plan a larger budget for their holidays."

Tui's update came as it reported a 40% fall in sales to £4.03bn (€4.73bn) for the year to the end of September, a period when trading continued to be held back by the pandemic.

It also suffered a second year of big annual losses, in the red by £2.09bn (€2.46bn), though that was smaller than the £2.7bn (€3.2bn) loss recorded in the prior year, also hit by COVID restrictions.

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Chief executive Fritz Joussen said Tui had a "successful summer" after the relaunch of travel and that it had "recovered significantly" in the last quarter.

"We expect summer 2022 and the peak travel season to return to booking levels similar to pre-Corona 2019," he added.

Tui reported that it had taken 4.1 million bookings for the coming financial year already, after 5.4 million holidays in the whole of the 2020/21 period.

It said it was currently planning for capacity over this winter at 60%-80% of pre-pandemic levels.

But it added: "The increased media coverage of rising incident rates and the emergence of new Omicron variant has weakened this positive momentum, particularly for winter."

Tui said that "in light of recent trends, capacity will likely be modified towards the lower end of our winter capacity plans".

The update comes after the return of pre-departure COVID tests for all UK arrivals was described as a "devastating blow for aviation and tourism".

EasyJet said last week that it had seen early signs of a softening of bookings amid the emergence of the Omicron variant.

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Tui boss to step down in new ‘growth path’ for travel firm

Fritz joussen will leave the german holiday giant at the end of september, when he will be replaced by chief financial officer sebastian ebel., article bookmarked.

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The chief executive of travel giant Tui is stepping down after almost 10 years at the helm, having led the group through the pandemic.

Fritz Joussen will leave the German holiday giant at the end of September, when he will be replaced by the company’s chief financial officer, Sebastian Ebel.

Mr Joussen – who took on the role in 2013 – said Tui’s survival was seriously threatened when the pandemic hit in March 2020 but added that bosses rescued the firm, and the new chief executive can lead it back to growth.

The travel firm recently repaid some of the Covid support cash given by the German state shortly after the global shutdown.

It received three separate stabilisation packages totalling almost five billion euro (£4.2 billion) to keep it afloat amid travel restrictions and falling demand for holidays.

But Tui was forced to apologise to customers earlier this month after delays and cancellations to flights disrupted holiday-goers over the May half term and left families stranded at airports.

Airlines have struggled to cope with rising demand for flights coupled with severe staffing shortages leading to several months of disruption for travellers.

Tui Airways cancelled nearly 200 flights from Manchester Airport in June.

The firm was also embroiled in the fallout of the Ukraine war, with Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov forced to resign from its supervisory board after being hit by EU sanctions.

Tui claimed on Friday it has successfully weathered the Covid storm and its new boss will usher it into a new chapter of success.

Mr Joussen said: “When the pandemic in spring 2020 turned us into a company without a business virtually overnight, all our attention was focused on one goal: rescuing Tui.

“The immediate crisis management, which was about ensuring the group’s continued survival, has now been completed.

“Under new management, Tui is now starting the next chapter: a return to profitable growth – of course coupled with tasks from the crisis: reducing debt, strengthening the balance sheet and the further transformation of Tui.

“Sebastian Ebel will lead TUI back onto the growth path,” he added.

Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Tui’s advisory board, added: “Sebastian Ebel is an excellent choice for the new start after the Corona crisis.”

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TUI’s Chief Airline Officer Talks Summer 2024 and Boeing Orders

Gordon Smith , Skift

April 3rd, 2024 at 5:41 AM EDT

For the latest in our Leaders of Travel: Skift C-Suite Series, we sit down with Marco Ciomperlik, Chief Airline Officer at the TUI Group to gather his insights on the year ahead.

Gordon Smith

Leaders of Travel: Skift C-Suite Series

What are the top trends impacting hotels, airlines, and online bookings? We speak to the executives shaping the future of travel.

The TUI Group is a tourism powerhouse . Arguably best known for its family-friendly vacations, the company’s operation spans hotels, cruise ships, travel agencies, and digital platforms . The goal is to offer the entire value chain under a single umbrella brand. 

It is also a major player in the aviation sector.

TUI owns five European carriers which collectively operate 130 medium and long-haul aircraft. These jets – supported by more than 8,000 employees – serve 140 global destinations from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia and many points in between. Around 26 million passengers flew with TUI last year, making it one of the dominant forces in the European leisure market.

At the center of it all is Marco Ciomperlik, TUI Group’s Chief Airline Officer. In a sit-down interview with Skift, he shared valuable insight into the latest travel trends and strategic growth priorities for the company’s airline division. 

Skift: How is the coming summer season shaping up?

Marco Ciomperlik: Right now, it’s very good and we are very confident looking forward. As with most other airlines, we’re appreciating the current situation. If nothing [unexpected] happens then it seems to be a good year.

Do you consider current booking trends as the new normal? Or are we still experiencing a post-pandemic peak?

Nobody knows 100%. I think when you review the pent-up demand, we were all surprised by 2022 because everybody wanted to escape from home and the lockdown. Then I think in 2023, we said, ‘Is this the end of the pent-up demand?’ And then you look to this year, despite all the topics surrounding us, demand remains quite resilient. I believe what we’re now seeing is no longer pent-up demand – the situation is stabilizing. 

The industry is at least back to 2019 levels revenue-wise, including inflation and other effects, but not completely with passengers. We’re almost there, but not yet, and of course, in 2019 there was no ‘pent-up demand’. I think it really depends on the economic outlook how things will develop in the next year.

Premium leisure has been one of the hottest niches of recent years. Is this something you’re also experiencing? 

There’s certainly a demand in that category, but when we look at our core business, around 70% is still the package holiday. Yes, there’s a focus on premium leisure but we’re still serving families quite a lot. The TUI brand is positioned in the middle-to-premium category. When you look at the development of the sector, then yes, people are willing to spend more but also expecting more. For example, they are buying additional services that they haven’t done in the past. 

You fly the Boeing 737 Max 8, would you consider the Max 9 in the future?

The 737 Max 9 is not in our scope as we have the Max 10 on order. We are looking forward to integrating the 10 into our fleet. 

What about the 737 Max 7, is there any interest there?

No. We had a lot of 737-700s [the previous generation type], and we’re getting rid of them over the next three years. I’m a fan of a very homogenized fleet. We operate 19 Boeing 787s and one 767, but even that will leave at the end of this year plus our 757s are also all gone as of last year. 

TUI was one of the first operators of the Boeing 787. What is the state of play with the existing widebody fleet as the Dreamliners start to mature?

We’re currently strategizing about the future of the long-haul fleet. There is a tipping point coming where we need to decide how we deal with the next generation. All of the [787] aircraft are now entering their 10-12 year [maintenance] checks which is quite interesting as it’s not something anyone has done before. It also gives us a view about how the aircraft will perform in the future which is important for future long-haul decision making. 

Looking at the leisure market – which is different from the business long-haul market – we are currently quite happy with the setup. We use [the Dreamliners] mainly westbound towards the Caribbean.

TUI currently has five airlines (AOCs) – can we ever expect those to be consolidated?

This is a good question. The traffic rights are obviously connected to the AOCs, and from a legislation point of view, you need the [separate] entities. Within our five AOCs, they operate under one TUI Airline which means that everything that is not an AOC minimum requirement is consolidated or co-located. For instance, our operations control center is based in London, and other areas are consolidated across Europe. 

If there was a possibility to move even further, it must make sense, not just for a small saving. If this was the case then we could take that step but for the time being there aren’t any plans. I would say we are two-thirds on our journey to consolidate everything under TUI Airline. 

Some answers have been lightly edited or shortened for clarity.

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Tags: airlines , boeing 737 max , Boeing 787 , leisure travel , tui , tui group

Photo credit: TUI Group TUI Group

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Tui slashes summer holiday schedule despite bookings surge

Travel firm says flight reductions caused by customer uncertainty over UK coronavirus restrictions

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

The travel company Tui Group has cut back its summer schedule amid the continued impact of British coronavirus restrictions , despite receiving 1.5m bookings for summer holidays since early May.

The world’s largest tourism business said on Thursday that it had returned to generating positive cashflow for the first time in the pandemic thanks to an influx of customer deposits, in a statement to the stock market. It brought in €320m (£270m) in cash between April and June.

However, Tui will run flights at only 60% of its 2019 level during the July-to-September quarter, a reduction from the 75% it had planned in May.

Fritz Joussen, the chief executive, said the cuts to planned flight numbers were mainly down to customer uncertainty in the UK, where the government had made “sometimes too rapid” changes to which countries are open for travel.

“We are missing the bookings from the UK,” Joussen said. “We had a big booking base and then when you change the programme so often then people cancel and amend. The predictability of decisions was not very high.”

Tui has been one of the most vulnerable companies to changes in travel restrictions across Europe during the pandemic. England, one of its largest markets, has kept travel restrictions in place on many of the most popular destinations for longer than expected because of the spread of the infectious Delta variant of coronavirus.

Joussen added that UK demand was lowered further by the costs of mandatory PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests for all passengers, including for those who are fully vaccinated. Tui has offered cheap testing to customers in an attempt to encourage them to book.

The Anglo-German company made a steep quarterly loss of €940m between April and June. Over the first nine months of its financial year from October to June, Tui lost €2.4bn, €100m more than it did in the equivalent period for 2020. However, its financial position will improve during the July-to-September quarter as cash received from forward bookings is translated into confirmed revenues.

It has 4.2m bookings lined up for the whole summer, compared with about 9m before Covid-19 struck.

Tui said the strong rebound in customer deposits reflected “strong pent-up demand, with government regulation a clear limiting factor to our operations”.

The company has focused on reopening in destinations with relatively high vaccination rates and low hospital admissions, with the Balearics, Canaries and Greek islands forming most of its planned capacity for rest of the summer.

There were further signs of pent-up demand for winter long-haul travel as well as early sales for summer 2022, which hit an all-time high, at more than double the forward bookings at the same point before Covid-19.

The company, which has been bailed out multiple times by banks, investors and the German government, will still have to raise more money to cut the debt pile it has built up during the coronavirus crisis.

However, Joussen said Tui’s negotiations with lenders had eased its short-term liquidity pressures. “We are not burning cash any more,” he said. “The good thing is we have the time.”

• Travel & leisure
• Coronavirus

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Google reveals top destinations for summer vacation 2024

Paris, Puerto Rico and more made the top 20!

For anyone feeling a sudden urge for summer wanderlust, Google unveiled its top 20 destinations that travelers have already taken an interest in for any upcoming warm weather getaways.

From domestic to international locations, Google shared insights based on past flight booking data and search trends with "Good Morning America" to help people start planning summer vacation spots or shape an ideal itinerary.

Much like snubs and surprises during awards season, there are a couple of places that fell out of favor since last year as well as some new additions that made this year's list.

Check out all the spots below.

Top summer 2024 destinations on Google flights

The search engine technology company said the list reflects people in the U.S. searching on Google Flights for travel anytime between June 1 through August 31, 2024.

Cancun, which previously came in at number one during summer, dropped to number six, while Tokyo is on the rise, with Madrid and San Juan new to the summer location lineup.

1. London 2. Paris 3. Tokyo 4. Rome 5. New York 6. Cancun 7. Orlando 8. Las Vegas 9. Seattle 10. Athens 11. Los Angeles 12. Miami 13. Barcelona 14. Dublin 15. Fort Lauderdale 16. Honolulu 17. Denver 18. Madrid 19. Boston 20. San Juan

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The biggest change from 2023, according to Google, is that Cancun moved down from the number two spot to number six, while Tokyo rose from number eight to number three.

Newcomers to the top destinations list include San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Madrid, Spain. Chicago and San Francisco didn't make the top 20 this year.

Travel trends on Google search

Google gathers insights from mid-January to mid-March from U.S. users to find out what travel-related queries are top of mind ahead of summer.

Searches for "travel itinerary" and "solo travel" reached an all-time high in January.

Two of the top trending "weekend getaway" destinations are Palm Springs and Florida Keys.

The top trending "romantic getaway" destinations were Napa, the famed California wine country, and Key West, home to the southernmost point in the Continental U.S. with historic landmarks.

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Huge fire engulfs shopping centre in Moscow suburb

At least one person dies in blaze raging through Mega Khimki shopping centre.

Russian firefighters have put out a massive blaze that engulfed one of the largest shopping centres in a suburb of the capital, Moscow, leading to the collapse of part of the structure and one death.

The fire early on Friday spread over an area of about 7,000 square metres (75,000 square feet) in the Mega Khimki shopping and entertainment centre, authorities said.

The head of the Russian emergencies ministry, Sergey Poletykin, reported that at least one person had been killed in the incident, with the fire put down at 10:45am (7:35 GMT).

More than 70 firefighters and 20 fire trucks had been sent to the site, emergency services said. The work was hampered due to the design of the building, which is located about 7km (4 miles) from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, they said.

“Due to the collapse of the roof, the fire spread instantly to a large area,” the Moscow region’s emergency services said on Telegram.

The "Mega Khimki" shopping center in #Moscow is on fire. The fire area is about 7000 m². pic.twitter.com/GXxKB3vbxs — NEXTA (@nexta_tv) December 9, 2022

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it was looking into the cause of the fire.

The head of the Moscow region’s emergency services agency said it appeared the blaze was the result of safety regulations being violated during repair work on the building.

A worker told TASS a short circuit might have caused the fire, followed by an explosion that caused the flames to spread.

Russian news agencies had earlier reported that emergency services were considering “arson” as a possible cause.

Videos on social media showed a huge fire, with people fleeing the burning building into a parking lot.

Mega Khimki had been home to a large number of Western retail chains before the companies’ departure from Russia in the wake of the Ukraine war , including one of the first IKEA stores in the Moscow area.

Russia has seen a number of deadly fires at entertainment venues in recent years.

Last month, a fire killed 13 people at a bar in the city of Kostroma. A drunk man had reportedly fired a flare gun indoors but inadequate fire safety regulations caused the large number of deaths, authorities had said.

In 2018, a fire killed 60 people in a shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo.

In 2009, another blaze at a nightclub in the Urals city of Perm killed 156 people.

• Travel Updates

Andrew Forrest mission in PNG uncovers lost WWII Australian bomber plane

An Australian WWII bomber and its four crewmen have been identified 81 years after the plane went down in the waters off Papua New Guinea.

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An Australian bomber and its four missing crewmen have been identified 81 years after the plane went down in World War 2 in Papua New Guinea.

The Royal Australian Air Force confirmed on Wednesday it had identified Beaufort Aircraft A9-186 from Number 100 Squadron, four years after the plane’s crash site was first discovered.

The discovery was made by an Ocean Ecology dive team working for billionaire mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest as part of an ongoing search for his uncle, Flying Officer David Forrest, who was lost during a mission at Gasmata in the Bismarck Archipelago in the Pacific nation while piloting a similar RAAF 100SQN Beaufort.

In February 2022, Dr Forrest’s team returned to the crash site to identify the aircraft.

Air Marshal Robert Chipman said the identification mission involved the use of specialist divers working on an aircraft extensively damaged by fire and covered in layers of sediment and marine growth.

“The aircraft identity plate and cockpit lever were recovered from the site and will be returned to Australia under a permit granted by the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery,” Air Marshal Chipman said.

The wreck site of the A9-186, which was first reported missing in 1943, is located 43 metres below sea level.

The identities of the plane’s four crewmen, Warrant Officer Clement Batstone Wiggins, Warrant Officer Russell Henry Grigg, Flight Sergeant Albert Beckett and Flight Sergeant Gordon Lewis Hamilton, have also been confirmed, Defence said.

“Small amounts of bone material recovered during the identification mission were analysed by anthropologists and DNA specialists,” Air Marshal Chipman said.

“The RAAF’s HUWC team collated the evidence and a Defence Identification Board identified the remains as those of Warrant Officer Clement Batstone Wiggins and Warrant Officer Russell Henry Grigg.

“Unfortunately, it’s with a heavy heart we can confirm that no remains of the other two crew members, Flight Sergeant Albert Beckett and Flight Sergeant Gordon Lewis Hamilton, were recovered.

“We will continue to strive to find, recover and identify our missing service personnel as part of our commitment to honouring their service and sacrifice for our nation.”

A memorial service for the four war heroes is booked for April 26 at RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland.

Mary and Frank, the two surviving children of Warrant Officer Grigg, expressed their gratitude to Dr Forrest in a letter, writing of their gratitude for his mission to discover the final resting place of his uncle.

“We will be forever indebted to you for your generous and enduring efforts to locate your father’s brother,” they write.

“It means the world to us to finally know our father’s resting place.”

In an emotional interview with A Current Affair, Dr Forrest said his search for his Uncle was propelled by a sense of gratitude for Australia’s service personnel.

“It (the search mission) is an investment which is being made for the heritage of Australia, and the closure of tragedies and if it can do anything, it is to continue to draw attention to how very grateful every Australian must be for those youngsters who died,” he said.

Air Marshal Chipman said no further recovery was planned for the crash site.

A man who fell to his death at a popular tourist spot in Far North Queensland had plans to live in Australia before tragedy struck.

Zookeepers at the Australian Reptile Park have had a terrifyingly close call with an angry crocodile, with one keeper walking away with a head injury.

A 39-year-old woman has fallen more than 50 metres, after a photo she was trying to take at an idyllic spot went horribly wrong.

Watch CBS News

What time the 2024 solar eclipse started, reached peak totality and ended

By Sarah Maddox

Updated on: April 9, 2024 / 5:04 AM EDT / CBS News

The 2024 solar eclipse will be visible across North America today. As the moon's position between the Earth and sun casts a shadow on North America, that shadow, or umbra, will travel along the surface from west to east at more than 1,500 miles per hour along the path of totality . 

That means the eclipse will start, peak and end at different times — as will the moments of total darkness along the path of totality — and the best time to view the eclipse depends on where you are located. Some places along the path will have more totality time than others.

In Texas, the south-central region had clouds in the forecast , but it was better to the northeast, according to the National Weather Service. The best eclipse viewing weather was expected in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, as well as in Canada's New Brunswick and Newfoundland.

What time does the 2024 total solar eclipse start?

The total solar eclipse will emerge over the South Pacific Ocean before the shadow falls across North America, beginning in parts of Mexico. The path of totality , where onlookers can witness the moon fully blocking the sun (through eclipse viewing glasses for safety ), is expected to first make landfall near the city of Mazatlán around 9:51 a.m. MT. 

The total solar eclipse will cross over the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas, where it will emerge over Eagle Pass at 12:10 p.m. CT and then peak at about 1:27 p.m. CT.

In Dallas, NASA data shows the partial eclipse will first become visible at 12:23 p.m. CT and peak at 1:40 p.m. CT. The next states in the path of totality are Oklahoma and Arkansas, where the eclipse begins in Little Rock at 12:33 p.m. CT. 

Cleveland will see the beginning of the eclipse at 1:59 p.m. ET. Darkness will start spreading over the sky in Buffalo, New York, at 2:04 p.m. ET. Then, the eclipse will reach northwestern Vermont, including Burlington, at 2:14 p.m. ET. Parts of New Hampshire and Maine will also follow in the path of totality before the eclipse first reaches the Canadian mainland  at 3:13 p.m. ET.

Although the experience won't be exactly the same, viewers in all the contiguous U.S. states outside the path of totality will still be able to see a partial eclipse. Some places will see most of the sun blocked by the moon, including Washington, D.C., where the partial eclipse will start at 2:04 p.m. ET and peak at about 3:20 p.m. ET.

In Chicago, viewers can start viewing the partial eclipse at 12:51 p.m. CT, with the peak arriving at 2:07 p.m. CT.  In Detroit, viewers will be able to enjoy a near-total eclipse beginning at 1:58 p.m. ET and peaking at 3:14 p.m. ET.

New York City will also see a substantial partial eclipse, beginning at 2:10 p.m. ET and peaking around 3:25 p.m. ET.

In Boston it will begin at 2:16 p.m. ET and peak at about 3:29 p.m. ET.

The below table by NASA shows when the eclipse will start, peak and end in 13 cities along the eclipse's path.

What time will the solar eclipse reach peak totality?

Millions more people will have the chance to witness the total solar eclipse this year than during the last total solar eclipse , which was visible from the U.S. in 2017. 

The eclipse's peak will mean something different for cities within the path of totality and for those outside. Within the path of totality, darkness will fall for a few minutes. The longest will last more than 4 minutes, but most places will see between 3.5 and 4 minutes of totality. In cities experiencing a partial eclipse, a percentage of the sun will be obscured for more than two hours.

Mazatlán is set to experience totality at 11:07 am PT. Dallas will be able to see the moon fully cover the sun at 1:40 p.m. CT. Little Rock will start to see the full eclipse at 1:51 p.m. CT, Cleveland at 3:13 p.m. ET and Buffalo at 3:18 p.m. ET. Totality will reach Burlington at 3:26 p.m. ET before moving into the remaining states and reaching Canada around 4:25 p.m.

Outside the path of totality, 87.4% of the sun will be eclipsed in Washington, D.C. at 3:20 p.m. ET, and Chicago will have maximum coverage of 93.9% at 2:07 p.m. CT. New York City is much closer to the path of totality this year than it was in 2017; it will see 89.6% coverage at 3:25 p.m. EDT. 

Detroit is another city that will encounter a near-total eclipse, with 99.2% maximum coverage at 3:14 p.m. ET. Boston will see 92.4% coverage at 3:29 p.m. ET.

What time will the solar eclipse end?

The eclipse will leave continental North America from Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 p.m. NT, according to NASA.

At the beginning of the path of totality in Mazatlán, the eclipse will be over by 12:32 p.m. PT, and it will leave Dallas at 3:02 p.m. CT. The eclipse will end in Little Rock at 3:11 p.m. CT, Cleveland at 4:29 p.m. CDT and Buffalo at 4:32 p.m. ET. Burlington won't be far behind, with the eclipse concluding at 4:37 p.m. ET.

Meanwhile, the viewing will end in Chicago at 3:21 p.m. CT, Washington, D.C. at 4:32 p.m. ET, and New York City at 4:36 p.m. ET. 

In Detroit, the partial eclipse will disappear at 4:27 p.m. ET, and in Boston, it will be over at 4:39 p.m. ET.

How long will the eclipse last in total?

The total solar eclipse will begin in Mexico at 11:07 a.m. PT and leave continental North America at 5:16 p.m. NT. From the time the partial eclipse first appears on Earth to its final glimpses before disappearing thousands of miles away, the celestial show will dazzle viewers for about 5 hours, according to timeanddate.com . 

The length of the total solar eclipse at points along the path depends on the viewing location. The longest will be 4 minutes and 28 seconds, northwest of Torreón, Mexico. Near the center of the path, totality takes place for the longest periods of time, according to NASA.

Spectators will observe totality for much longer today than during the 2017 eclipse , when the longest stretch of totality was 2 minutes and 32 seconds.

The moon's shadow seen on Earth today, called the umbra, travels at more than 1,500 miles per hour, according to NASA. It would move even more quickly if the Earth rotated in the opposite direction.

What is the longest a solar eclipse has ever lasted?

The longest known totality was 7 minutes and 28 seconds in 743 B.C. However, NASA says this record will be broken in 2186 with a 7 minute, 29 second total solar eclipse. The next total solar eclipse visible from parts of the U.S. won't happen until Aug. 23, 2044.

Sarah Maddox has been with CBS News since 2019. She works as an associate producer for CBS News Live.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson to deliver remarks with Trump on 'election integrity'

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Mar-a-Lago Friday for remarks on “election integrity” with former President Donald Trump, two sources directly familiar with the plans confirmed to NBC News.

Asked by NBC News what his press conference with Trump will focus on, Johnson said, “You’ll have to see. ... I look forward to going down there."

When asked to elaborate on “election integrity," Johnson said: “free and fair elections."

The planned remarks were first reported by CNN . The House is set to be in session on Friday but votes are expected to be done in the morning.

Friday's meeting with Trump comes as Johnson, R-La., faces threats to his job from his right flank and scrutiny over his handling of thorny issues in a narrow Republican majority, including a military aid package for Ukraine and other U.S. allies that has been held up for months, despite his vows to pass new Ukraine aid.

Johnson is under tremendous pressure from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., another Trump ally, who has threatened to force a vote on a motion to oust the speaker over funding for Ukraine. Greene, who argues that congressional attention and funding should be turned to the southern border rather than Ukraine, last month filed a "motion to vacate" to depose Johnson but stopped short of forcing a vote to remove him.

A Republican former senior congressional aide said that the meeting in Mar-a-Lago may send a message to Greene that Johnson is close to Trump and that Trump is supportive of his continued leadership of the House GOP. “This seems to be more about motion-to-vacate mitigation than anything else,” said the former aide.

Before he was elected House speaker, Johnson had boosted Trump's false claims of widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential election and pursued legal efforts to invalidate President Joe Biden's electoral victory. In Dec. 2020, Johnson led an amicus brief signed by more than 100 House Republicans in support of a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn Biden's wins in four battleground states.

Johnson endorsed Trump in November, not long after taking the speaker’s gavel.

Although Trump did not announce an outright endorsement amid the House speaker's race last year, the former president seemed to boost Johnson's bid, writing in a post to his Truth Social platform, “My strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson, & GET IT DONE, FAST!”

Days after he announced his endorsement of Trump, Johnson met with the former president at a fundraiser for Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla. in November at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Ali Vitali is a Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News, based in Washington.

Jonathan Allen is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.

Summer Concepcion is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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