Thomas Cook

[Samishlol]

I've been told the SmartLynx on the ground at the moment, LY-LCL is only a temporary stand in for LY-LCZ (current reg: SP-HAY) which will be taking over which is a former Small Planets aircraft.

 

[Severn]

SmartLynx Airlines A320 (YL-LCL) operated to GVA and DLM today before positioning out this evening to Tallinn, Estonia under a SmartLynx Airlines Estonia callsign MYX9541
SmartLynx Airlines A321 (YL-LCZ) positioned into BRS from MAN this evening under a SmartLynx Airlines callsign ART9776 to be based.
Thomas Cook A321 G-TCDH operated today to NBE and FUE and remains based.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Severn

I note on another forum that, in answer to a query about based aircraft at BRS this summer, you said that Thomas Cook will have 1 x A320 and 2 x A321 but at times throughout the season that will alter to 2 x A320s and 1 x A321. This would be less than summer 18 when it was 1 x A320 and 2 x A321s throughout the summer.

I thought I read somewhere that at times the complement was 3 x A321s this summer. Was I I dreaming or has the number of based Airbus variants been altered?

 

[Severn]

I do apologise, I got a little confused!

TCX have 3x A321s based at BRS this summer expect for mid-June - mid-August where an A320 replaces an A321.
The base will be 2x TCX A321s and 1x SmartLynx A321 up to mid-June and from mid-August
The base will be 1x TCX A321, 1x SmartLynx A321 and 1x SmartLynx A320 from mid-June to mid-August

 

[kraktoa]

Worrying times for this company. Once the media starts publicising the share prices and losses from previous quarters the travelling public become anxious about future bookings and the downward spiral begins. It will need some effort to criss this hurdle for this once market leading travel company.

Does anyone know if Thomas Cook India are a subsidiary or a completely different entity. Its doing well in that country.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Worrying times for this company. Once the media starts publicising the share prices and losses from previous quarters the travelling public become anxious about future bookings and the downward spiral begins. It will need some effort to criss this hurdle for this once market leading travel company.

Does anyone know if Thomas Cook India are a subsidiary or a completely different entity. Its doing well in that country.

Thomas Cook (India) Ltd is an Indian company that has no connection with the London-headquartered Thomas Cook Group plc.

 

[superking]

I see the Smartlynx A320 reg no is YL LCS is operating from BRS. This was planned,but how long is it flying from BRS.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

TCX have 3x A321s based at BRS this summer expect for mid-June - mid-August where an A320 replaces an A321.
The base will be 2x TCX A321s and 1x SmartLynx A321 up to mid-June and from mid-August
The base will be 1x TCX A321, 1x SmartLynx A321 and 1x SmartLynx A320 from mid-June to mid-August

Until mid-August - see Severn's earlier linked post herein.

 

[Marko1]

We have three a321s back today - temporary or permanent replacement for the A320 ?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

We have three a321s back today - temporary or permanent replacement for the A320 ?

It seems temporary until the scheduled third A321 returns in mid-August.

I was walking Felton Common around lunchtime/early afternoon today and noticed what appeared to be four aircraft on the apron working for Thomas Cook, having just seen a couple of landing aircraft in non-standard Thomas Cook livery.

SmartLynx A321 YL-LCZ in Thomas Cook livery arrived from Zakynthos at 1312 (seven minutes late) and later operated to Arrecife

Thomas Cook A321 G-TCVA in Thomas Cook livery but with blue engine covers instead of yellow arrived from Malta at 1356 (16 minutes late) and later operated to Dalaman

SmartLynx A321 YL-LDC mainly white in colour with a blue-painted rear section but no airline identity as far as I could see arrived from Corfu at 1405 and later flew to Tallinn from where it arrived at BRS on Monday evening 15 July and operated trips to Tenerife, Heraklion, Burgas, Larnaca and Corfu whilst temporarily based at BRS

SmartLynx A320 YL-LCS in Thomas Cook livery departed to Antalya at 1520, having arrived from Erfurt, Germany today to where it had flown from BRS on Tuesday 16 July. Prior to that it had been operating at BRS on Thomas Cook routes (all above information courtesy of FR24).

It would seem then that the unliveried SmartLynx A321 has been standing in for the SmartLynx A320 for the past couple of days.

So today's three Thomas Cook afternoon departures consisted of two SmartLynx aircraft in Thomas Cook livery (one a 321 and the other a 320) plus a Thomas Cook 321 in Thomas Cook livery but with blue engine covers.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I was walking near the airport this afternoon and noticed an Airbus A321 landing in Condor livery.

A later check with FR24 showed that it was operating the late running Thomas Cook Palma service (due 1200 - landed 1504). The aircraft was G-TCDR and according to FR24 it has been operating at BRS since 9th August.

FR24's picture of the aircraft shows 'Condor' written in large letters along the side of the front of the fuselage with 'Thomas Cook' written in smaller lettering towards the back. I'm not a spotter so I don't know if Thomas Cook has other aircraft with British registrations in Condor livery.

 

[Ice-tongs]

I

I was walking near the airport this afternoon and noticed an Airbus A321 landing in Condor livery.

A later check with FR24 showed that it was operating the late running Thomas Cook Palma service (due 1200 - landed 1504). The aircraft was G-TCDR and according to FR24 it has been operating at BRS since 9th August.

FR24's picture of the aircraft shows 'Condor' written in large letters along the side of the front of the fuselage with 'Thomas Cook' written in smaller lettering towards the back. I'm not a spotter so I don't know if Thomas Cook has other aircraft with British registrations in Condor livery.

Thomas Cook swapped the last of its Uk Reg 757s with Condor for A321s.

I believe Condor still operates a fair number of 757s so I can see the logic.

D-AIAH became G-TCDR, and D-AIAE became G-TCDP and both still have the Condor titles, maybe they will changed over the winter, maybe not.

I bet the 757s have Conor titles tho, as when they tried to change the Condor brand to Thomas Cook a couple of years back it don’t go down to well if memory serves me right.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thomas Cook swapped the last of its Uk Reg 757s with Condor for A321s.

I believe Condor still operates a fair number of 757s so I can see the logic.

D-AIAH became G-TCDR, and D-AIAE became G-TCDP and both still have the Condor titles, maybe they will changed over the winter, maybe not.

I bet the 757s have Conor titles tho, as when they tried to change the Condor brand to Thomas Cook a couple of years back it don’t go down to well if memory serves me right.

Many thanks for that. I certainly wasn't aware.

 

[Ice-tongs]

Looks like we are back up to 3 x A321s as promised for mid August.

2 x Cooks and the 1 Smartlynx.

The A320 departed to Stansted this morning.

 

[superking]

Thomas cook have aircraft G TCDV with COOKS CLUB written on the side of aircraft.
Also a few A321 is still in monarch hybrid colours. So it looks like not all of fleet in standard name lettering. Perhaps when winter comes,the fleet may be sorted out with lettering.They do lease out a number of A321 each winter to Transat,so if they have any spare aircraft then it will be done then if they have the funds to do it.

 

[Severn]

Summary of TCX Routes - Summer 2019

Summer 2019 is upon us, and I realised there hasn't been a post about this summer for a while.
The based aircraft this peak-summer is 1x TCX A321, 1x SmartLynx A321 and 1x SmartLynx A320. *The A320 replaces a TCX A321 for June to mid-August only.

I've compared a week in August 2019 to the same week in 2018 of Thomas Cook Airlines schedule from BRS.
-----------------------------------------------
Number of routes operating per week:
2018: 23
2019: 25 (+2)
-----------------------------------------------
Number of flights per week:
2018: 39
2019: 43 (+4)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of aircraft based:
2018: 2x TCX A321, 1x A320 (operated by SmartLynx)
2019: 2x TCX A321, 1x A320 (operated by SmartLynx)* *A320 is replaces a TCX A321 for June to mid-August.
-----------------------------------------------
Weekly Frequencies: (a '[+]' or '[-]' represents change from 2018)

5x Weekly
Antalya (AYT) [+1]
Dalaman (DLM)

4x Weekly
Zante (ZTH)

3x Weekly
Majorca (PMI)

2x Weekly
Enfidha (NBE) [NEW] [+2]
Corfu (CFU)
Larnaca (LCA)
Menorca (MAH)
Tenerife (TFS)

1x Weekly
Bodrum (BJV) [NEW] [+1]
Almeria (LEI)
Bourgas (BOJ)
Crete Heraklion (HER)
Gerona (GRO)
Gran Canaria (LPA)
Hurgharda (HRG)
Ibiza (IBZ)
Kefalona (EFL)
Kos (KGS)
Lanzarote (ACE)
Malta (MLA)
Paphos (PFO)
Preveza (PVK)
Rhodes (RHO)
Skiathos (JSI)

Notes
In 2018 a based TCX A321 operated a W-patterns to another UK bases on four days each week. These were:
Tue: BRS-DLM-BHX-DLM-BRS
Wed: BRS-AYT-BHX-AYT-BRS
Fri: BRS-AYT-CWL-AYT-BRS
Sat: BRS-PMI-BHX-PMI-BRS

In 2019 none of the BRS based aircraft operate any w-patterns. This means that on Tues, Wed, Fri and Sat the BRS based aircraft can operate two departures per day instead of operating a w-pattern as above which took all day. Therefore, BRS has gained an
extra flight to AYT on a Tuesday,
a new flight to NBE on a Wednesday
a new flight to BJV on a Friday
and a new flight to NBE on a Saturday

Capacity
2018 - 8,020 departing seats per week in peak summer (25x based A321 flights, 14x based A320 flights)
2019 - 8,900 departing seats per week in peak summer (29x based A321 flights, 14x based A320 flights)
*9,460 departing seats per week before mid-June and after mid-August (43x based A321 flights)

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Residents' shock as plane 'repositions' to avoid emergency services helicopter

One resident said she could 'almost make out the faces' of the passengers

www.bristolpost.co.uk

A bit of excitement for local residents near the BRS flight path this morning as a Thomas Cook A321 inbound from Palma had to leave its final approach because of the presence in the vicinity of an emergency services helicopter.

The A321 circled above some residential areas at just over 2,000 feet according to the press report before resuming its approach and landed safely. Inevitably the newspaper found some locals ready to give their take on the situation but, perhaps surprisingly, apart from one woman who reckoned she could nearly see the faces of passengers (could she make out bus passengers' faces from over 600 yards away?), the comments were sensible and realistic.

Obviously the situation was handled professionally and to standard procedures.

 

[kraktoa]

In the news again. Big article in The Times.CAA initiating plans in case of collapse.

 

[superking]

The news of TC in problems are it seems being reported every where.A lot of the news is guess work what will happen or not. 1breport was saying it could be as early at end of September for TC bankrupt.This would hit BRS in a big way pax wise.As its all roumers and nothing confirmed as whats happening or not.Reports like all these floating about does no company any favours,as it puts pressure on the company involved.Lets hope reports are wrong and TC goes from strength to strength.

 

[kraktoa]

Tenerife,Antalya and Dalaman to fly out today.

If the crunch point is this weekend, this will be a good indication if the deal is getting closer. It would be catastrophic to fly these passengers out if the bosses know they have no chance of securing the extra funds.