Thomas Cook

[backtrack]

Last night, we had the TCX172L into LBA from Kos. It was routed into us rather than MAN. The MAN arrivals board showed it as 'Diverted' at 2200 even though it was not scheduled to arrive until 0420. Presumably there was some aircraft swopping going on and lots of unhappy MAN passengers were bussed across the Pennines in the early hours. I bet that went down well!

What aircraft type was that then do you know?

 

[lbaspotter]

Hi

The Thomas Cook service TCX172L Which diverted into Leeds/Bradford from Manchester inbound from Kos this morning in the early hours was operated by Jet2.com Boeing 757-200, G-LSAG.

She diverted into Leeds/Bradford for operational reasons. Hence the pax were bused onwards to Manchester.

Hope that helps.

 

[backtrack]

Thomas Cook revealed yesterday in a meeting, that they intend to bring in an Airbus A330 over the winter to cover some of their flights. Im not sure whether this is replacing the B767-300 intended for the winter cruise flights to BGI, or whether they are flying somewehere else on top of the BGI routes.

As far as im aware at the moment the B767 TCX fleet is operationally low. I think they only have 2 or 3 in use at the moment, and are leasing other aircraft to cover their "tech" issues.

 

[Aviador]

The odd one or two delays for Thomas Cook over the weekend after their aircraft went tech. Another aircraft was drafted in from Gatwick yesterday morning. This mornings flight from Larnaca landed just 1 hour 15min late so the program will be back to normal by this evening.

 

[pcorbridge]

Apparently, for December 2009 and January 2010 Thomas Cook are advising passengers that the weekly Monday service to Las Palmas @ 7.15am from LBIA is cancelled and are transferring passengers to Manchester. Presumbaly must be due to a lack of take-up.

 

[White Heather]

What is it about Gran Canaria and Yorkshire folk? It seems to be a route that does OK from everywhere except LBA. Even Jet2 dropped it from here but are now reintroducing it from MAN and NCL?? I have been there and I loved the island and its fantastic volcanic scenery, although I found that if you are English and not German, you are a second class tourist. A lot of the menus in restaurants weren't even printed in English - just Spanish and German.

 

[lbaspotter]

What I dont understand is the fact that there was no planned Monday service to Las Palmas-Gran Canaria from LBA this winter 09/10 season.

A weekly Saturday flight was orginally planned to operate this coming winter season by the part based Airbus A320 aircraft but that was dropped several months ago. In a direct replacement a new winter sun service to Fuerteventura has been put on sale and will be operated by the based aircarft instead on saturdays.

As it stands there is currently only 3 departures that are on sale to be operating to Las Palmas this winter from LBA by Thomas Cook. Theses flights are to operate on a saturday over-night flight by the based aircraft over the Christmas and New Yeras Period. Flights will depart LBA at 18:05 only on the following Saturdays, December 19th & 26th 2009 and then again on January 02nd 2010.

 

[yorkshire]

i would have thought fuerteventura was a quieter place than Gran Canaria ? seems strange

 

[Aviador]

Gran Canaria has run out of steam. I have visited the island many times in the past. 10 years ago it was a vibrant island, the restaurants were cheap, the drinks were reasonably priced and the excursions weren't too expensive either. In recent years the Island has become expensive. The locals claim all inclusive hotels are killing off the resorts as people stop in their hotels and don't venture out to buy local produce. The knock-on effect of this means that bars and restaurants close and the all inclusive hotels increase their prices. I know that this could be said for many resorts throughout Europe but the Canaries have a particularly large number of all inclusive hotels. Tenerife hasn't suffered the same because they allowed low cost airlines to land there much earlier than the likes of Las Palmas.

 

[tk343]

Seems like Thomas Cook have cut down the winter sharm el sheikh flights looks like they are operating at the start of November and then stopping, can anyone else shed any light on this please.

 

[Aviador]

According to a poster on another forum TCX flights to Fuerteventura have been chopped as well. Does any body have any further details on this? I have said previously on here, that this winter is likely to be the most challenging period for many years. It's understandable if airlines have to concentrate on their main bases at times like this.

 

[Aviador]

For anyone interested this morning's SSH flight with TCX was operated by a 757 with the registration of G-FCLK. The flight went out with about 220 passengers.

The aircraft then went on to make a full emergency landing at Manchester airport. Does anyone know what happened there?

It's hard to believe that they are struggling to fill this flight from Leeds. It looking more likely that they are using the Leeds passengers to prop up a failing Manchester service.

 

[backtrack]

Yeah i agree i would of thought demand for SSH would be very high!

The aircraft experienced an engine fire shortly after takeoff and made, as you say, a full scale emergency landing into Manchester!

 

[Aviador]

It wasn't another bird strike that caused the fire was it?

 

[backtrack]

Dont know the reason for it, but an hour earlier another TCX a/c diverted on full emergency to MAN on its way from GLA to TFS. Bad day for TCX today it seems!

 

[eastcoaster]

Thos Cook have just cancelled the Air Malta flight to Malta for summer 2010. I guess due to Ryan Air operating the route.

 

[Aviador]

I read your comment on the Air Malta thread first, I guess you're right. It is usually Air Malta that operates the flight on behalf of Thomas Cook. Air Malta have their scheduled service to protect at Manchester which could be partly responsible for the decision.

 

[backtrack]

Shame to see them leave. A somewhat interesting visitor. But maybe sensible due to the FR operations beggining March 2010.

 

[White Heather]

That is a real shame. From memory, Air Malta were actually the first tour operator airline to fly 737's into LBA all those years ago. However, it should help boost the Ryanair passenger numbers at least.

 

[Aviador]

Thomas Cook has added a second weekly flight to Antalya. The flight is to operate on Thursdays.