Thomas Cook

[Jerry]

Thomas cook was considerably bigger than Monarch and this is a huge hole in capacity.

And unfortunately an airport like Cardiff will be low down on the pecking order for any of the airlines sadly.

 

[superking]

You never know 1 door closes and another door opens.In times like this it has to think positive cus it never knows what will happen in the future.

 

[Jerry]

For % share of departing seats Cardiff Airport is the highest in the country. 86,000 departing seats will be lost.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1176053230486335489

 

[Nuffsaid]

A chance for Jet2?

 

[Severn]

Before thinking of who might replace TCX, let's just wait for the dust to settle a bit.
There are a lot of people who have lost their jobs and now have an uncertain future. Some time should be given to respect them and also to reflect on a fantastic airline with long roots in the history of the UK travel industry.

 

[Rob c DSA]

With the current situation regarding aircraft these planes will certainly be in demand.

 

[Jerry]

Apparently the based A321 from Smartlynx will now operate on behalf of Titan Airways conducting repatriation flights. It's been mentioned elsewhere that the Thomas Cook crew members for these aircraft will temporarily be employed by Titan Airways for these flights.

 

[Jerry]

Just a recap of the route network Thomas Cook used to operate from Cardiff
Dalaman 3 weekly
Antalya 1 weekly
Larnaca 1 weekly
Rhodes 1 weekly
Zankynthos 2 weekly
Palma de Mallorca 2 weekly
Tenerife 2 weekly
Reus 1 weekly
Enfidha 1 weekly
Although CWL won't lose any routes as everyone is operated by TUI it will be a blow and it does show that their emphasis was largely on the Eastern Med so only certain airlines might be able to replace the capacity.
On another point i have seen on social media Virgin, Easyjet, TUI and Travelhouse all offering positions to ex Thomas Cook employees so hopefully they will get new jobs elsewhere. Also it's been said on social media that the TCX crews operating the return flights are volunteers and aren't being paid, which has to be commended.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Just a recap of the route network Thomas Cook used to operate from Cardiff
Dalaman 3 weekly
Antalya 1 weekly
Larnaca 1 weekly
Rhodes 1 weekly
Zankynthos 2 weekly
Palma de Mallorca 2 weekly
Tenerife 2 weekly
Reus 1 weekly
Enfidha 1 weekly
Although CWL won't lose any routes as everyone is operated by TUI it will be a blow and it does show that their emphasis was largely on the Eastern Med so only certain airlines might be able to replace the capacity.
On another point i have seen on social media Virgin, Easyjet, TUI and Travelhouse all offering positions to ex Thomas Cook employees so hopefully they will get new jobs elsewhere. Also it's been said on social media that the TCX crews operating the return flights are volunteers and aren't being paid, which has to be commended.

So if none of the flights are replaced by another airline what's that............a loss of around 150,000 passengers pa for CWL?

 

[Jerry]

So if none of the flights are replaced by another airline what's that............a loss of around 150,000 passengers pa for CWL?

Probably about that as I doubt that they would sell every seat. Roughly 170,000 seats supplied. Another factor is also how it will effect TUI in the winter as Thomas Cook sold Canary islands packages using TUI flights but hopefully any TCX customers will rebook with TUI.
2019 started out with so much promise for Cardiff airport but it's turned into a disaster of a year.
Hopefully Ryanair and Flybe summer 2020 won't add to the misery!

 

[Pontyboy]

What’s the reason behind the ZT call sign from Titan airways. I thought the CAA have got smartlynx to carry out getting home flights. They were smartlynx pilots and Thomas cook crew and I assume Thomas cook crew have been asked to carry on by smartlynx to get people home or is it now a completely Titan operated crew but smartlynx metal?

 

[Jerry]

What’s the reason behind the ZT call sign from Titan airways. I thought the CAA have got smartlynx to carry out getting home flights. They were smartlynx pilots and Thomas cook crew and I assume Thomas cook crew have been asked to carry on by smartlynx to get people home or is it now a completely Titan operated crew but smartlynx metal?

So Smartlynx are operating on behalf of titan with the former TCX crew.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

Just a recap of the route network Thomas Cook used to operate from Cardiff
Dalaman 3 weekly
Antalya 1 weekly
Larnaca 1 weekly
Rhodes 1 weekly
Zankynthos 2 weekly
Palma de Mallorca 2 weekly
Tenerife 2 weekly
Reus 1 weekly
Enfidha 1 weekly
Although CWL won't lose any routes as everyone is operated by TUI it will be a blow and it does show that their emphasis was largely on the Eastern Med so only certain airlines might be able to replace the capacity.
On another point i have seen on social media Virgin, Easyjet, TUI and Travelhouse all offering positions to ex Thomas Cook employees so hopefully they will get new jobs elsewhere. Also it's been said on social media that the TCX crews operating the return flights are volunteers and aren't being paid, which has to be commended.

The only current route I see benefitting from this would be VY to PMI. There may be a reluctance for some time to book package holidays which may encourage more flight only bookings and self made holidays. It may encourage Ryanair to take another look at TFS as we need to remember that there is also an influence on Welsh passengers with the loss of 3 based aircraft in BRS. So effectively the region has lost the equivalent of 4 based aircraft during summer.
It will be interesting to see the next moves from TUI and Jet2. TUI are already quite big at BRS and route days were often duplicated with TUI and TCX, i'm not sure TUI would fill a huge amount of the void, as it's not just about flight demand, it's also about hotel/resort check in/out days. Positively thinking this could therefore benefit CWL in some kind of way. Routes that are once weekly could become twice weekly at CWL, where they might already be 2x or even 3x weekly at BRS. Just a thought.

Jet2 have undergone huge expansion recently, whether they are in a position to do more is the question, there aren't many used 737s on the market with the max delays but both TUI and Jet2 could lease in someone like smartlynx until new/used aircraft become available.

Given that prices are likely to shoot up until demand meets supply, this could be a gamechanger for winter holidays. If prices in the winter are much cheaper because of the demand in the summer not being met, it could mean better utilisation of the current fleets during the winter months, or extended spring/end of summer months which I'm sure the likes of TUI and Jet2 would prefer. They can utilise the aircraft better in the winter, and offer longer contracts to temporary summer crew. Hopefully any expansion will help those crews that have lost their jobs with TCX.

One thing to remember though is that CWL will likely be way down the pecking order. There's a huge void left at many other Airports that would also be fighting to be replaced.

 

[Jerry]

The only current route I see benefitting from this would be VY to PMI.

Or maybe encourage Ryanair to launch PMI if that isn't already planned.
With TUI I could maybe see them adding extra flights to Dalaman and Antalya maybe using Freebird and maybe Tenerife with Norwegian if that could be possible and maybe Rhodes with one of the based aircraft and possibly add an extra PMI. It would fantastic if one of our flights, maybe PMI got upgraded to a Dreamliner but thats just me dreaming!
Also if capacity to the Eastern Mediterranean is less that could also make Spain more attractive boosting routes like Malaga where we have 2 airlines.

As for Jet2 I could see them taking the Air Tanker A330s for Manchester and Stansted to free up 737s for elsewhere but not for a new base.

 

[geoff]

The Travel House is holding a recruitment day at the Post House in Swansea for all recent employees of Thomas Cook. The Travel House and Tailor Made Travel could be the answer to CWL's woes. Between them they now have well over 40 travel agencies, both push CWL in their agencies, if they could only get together and form a joint tour operation operating out of CWL, it would be an enormous boost for South Wales. If they were unable to lease an aircraft between perhaps they could take seats on Vueling and Ryanair. I realise that some people may think this is far fetched, but I was just trying to figure out how to boost numbers from CWL.

 

[Jerry]

They do have a good relationship with them. I doubt that they would charter flights but most probably they would use Vueling and Ryanair and TUI for flights.

 

[Jerry]

Out of the 3 smaller airports Simon Calder mentions in his article Cardiff is the only one without a Jet2 presence, the airline that seems to be quietly replacing the lost capacity at many airports. The other airports are Newcastle and East Midlands.

Thomas Cook’s collapse will hit small, regional airports hardest

Plane Talk: There are serious implications for air links from the UK, and the nations dependent on them

www.independent.co.uk

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Out of the 3 smaller airports Simon Calder mentions in his article Cardiff is the only one without a Jet2 presence, the airline that seems to be quietly replacing the lost capacity at many airports. The other airports are Newcastle and East Midlands.

Thomas Cook’s collapse will hit small, regional airports hardest

Plane Talk: There are serious implications for air links from the UK, and the nations dependent on them

www.independent.co.uk

Whilst he speaks of the obvious when saying that there will be a lot of capacity lost through Thomas Cook and that other airlines will be looking to fill some of the void, I remain utterly convinced that Mr Calder's knowledge of many of the smaller airports in the country is scant.

I've heard or read his views on the subject so many times that I pay little if any attention to them when it comes to smaller regional airports.

 

[Jerry]

Whilst he speaks of the obvious when saying that there will be a lot of capacity lost through Thomas Cook and that other airlines will be looking to fill some of the void, I remain utterly convinced that Mr Calder's knowledge of many of the smaller airports in the country is scant.

I've heard or read his views on the subject so many times that I pay little if any attention to them when it comes to smaller regional airports.

I'm pretty sure that at Newcastle at least Jet2 have replaced a lot of the lost capacity and maybe at East Midlands which he doesn't mention.

 

[Jerry]

Thomas Cook is back as an online operator only.
They are offering holidays from Cardiff to non quaretined destinations of Cyprus, Turkey, Corfu, Keffalonia, Kos and Rhodes. These are using TUI flights. At the very least hopefully it'll give TUI a bit of a boost.