Thomas Cook

[Jerry]

Does anyone know why Thomas Cook doesn't use an A330 for Banjul. As apparently the A321 has had to stop on route both ways today. Faro on the outward leg and Gran Canaria on the return. I don't know if this is regular but it must be costly if it is.

 

[rutamkrd]

Jerry the flight normally makes it going South most of the time.

The accommodation available to TCX and partners is pretty limited along the mosquito plagued river basin and its spread across several departure points so the 332 might well be rather to much capacity, its a similar story down to Cabo Verda

 

[Jerry]

I found out today that the reason for the fuel stops was because Banjul was short of fuel.

 

[David_itl]

So Thonas Cook has put some of the long-haul routes for 2020 on sale (some 500,000 seats)! 40 flights a week ex-MAN with daily JFK & MCO and services to Seattle, Las Vegas and Montego Bay also included.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/319525/thomas-cooks-2020-long-haul-flights-go-on-sale

 

[groobs]

As per Airline Route, Seattle is now down to two per week...

Manchester – Seattle 31MAY20 – 30SEP20 Reduce from 3 to 2 weekly
MT2684 MAN1200 – 1330SEA 330 3
MT2790 MAN1200 – 1330SEA 330 7

MT2685 SEA1530 – 0835+1MAN 330 3
MT2791 SEA1530 – 0835+1MAN 330 7

 

[Land23R]

I noticed the SEA decrease from their initial long haul timetable for s2020. Assuming Cancun, JFK and MCO are just daily and not greater frequency, I counted 39 weekly flights compared to 40 for s2019.

 

[David_itl]

some early ticket booking news for this summer https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/trips-and-breaks/today-could-most-popular-day-15634535

"Phil Gardner, sales and e-commerce director at Thomas Cook said: "Our airline’s long-haul destinations are also proving very popular ahead of Sunshine Saturday, with three making the top 10 since Christmas. Online flight-only bookings, for example to San Francisco, are up 61 per cent on the same time last year, New York, where we have a daily flight from Manchester airport, is up 27 per cent, Goa, up 28 per cent and Cancun, up 44 per cent. "

General pointers for UK departures: Online bookings to Turkey up 57% year on year with Tunisia flights from 11 weekly to 17 weekly

 

[User1007]

Should the proposed deal to rescue Thomas Cook to through, Fosun will take a large minority stake in the airline. I would imagine this rules out any sale to any other parties rumoured to be interested - some reports say the airline has proven difficult to sell. It is particularly important for Manchester that Thomas Cook is saved - they have nearly a million more seats available this summer than Monarch had in 2017.

 

[rutamkrd]

Seems to me they are leveraging the group debt onto the airline spreadsheet and handing it to the banks and the Chinese with as much of the ownership % the regulations allow and to manage a reasonable selling price for the airline a few months down the line.

Sale is certain in this situation and let’s prey it doesn’t end up with blood suckers such as Greybull that buy for pennies strip out assets and dump good working staff on the streets !

Virgin really need to win this battle imho and build out Manchester as they have indicated.

Jobs would is be lost for sure however however far fewer than under the likes of Greybull or similar organisations who’s sole goal is to generate quick returns from assets acquired for virtually nothing from distressed businesses. They are effectively private liquidators.

Capital investments my a****

 

[Jerry]

Seems to me they are leveraging the group debt onto the airline spreadsheet and handing it to the banks and the Chinese with as much of the ownership % the regulations allow and to manage a reasonable selling price for the airline a few months down the line.

Sale is certain in this situation and let’s prey it doesn’t end up with blood suckers such as Greybull that buy for pennies strip out assets and dump good working staff on the streets !

Virgin really need to win this battle imho and build out Manchester as they have indicated.

Jobs would is be lost for sure however however far fewer than under the likes of Greybull or similar organisations who’s sole goal is to generate quick returns from assets acquired for virtually nothing from distressed businesses. They are effectively private liquidators.

Capital investments my a****

I actually think that Connect Airways buying Thomas Cook airline would be the better option as I think they would look to keep the airline alive especially the short haul side.

 

[rutamkrd]

And a significant financier of Connect is ??

Quite a viable tool for Virgin to use for sure

 

[rollo]

Seems to me they are leveraging the group debt onto the airline spreadsheet and handing it to the banks and the Chinese with as much of the ownership % the regulations allow and to manage a reasonable selling price for the airline a few months down the line.

Sale is certain in this situation and let’s prey it doesn’t end up with blood suckers such as Greybull that buy for pennies strip out assets and dump good working staff on

As I understand it it's a debt for equity swop hence yesterday's share price collapse as the company has little value due to its liabilities similar to Flybe's situation and their value on their take over. It's always a case of follow the money and mention of Greybull makes me shudder having divested of Monarch and then repeated with Monarch Engineering and coming out just fine financially and sod anyone else!

Money always wins the day I'm afraid.

I've no idea where Thomas Cook will end up but hopefully they will survive in some form or we loose another old name and employees suffer as per usual.

 

[Jerry]

And a significant financier of Connect is ??

Quite a viable tool for Virgin to use for sure

Cyrus group.

 

[Jerry]

If Connect do buy TCX I wonder then if we'll see the TCX brand focus on the holiday destinations like Orlando with the Virgin brand focus on the city destinations like LAX and JFK?

 

[pholling]

Cyrus group.

Cyrus are the largest shareholder in terms of equity, but my guess is the Atlanta has a lot to say about what is going on at connect. If for no other reason then they have a huge wealth of experience running a multi-tiered airline system. Keep in mind DL now jointly controls VS.

The big problem with finding a buyer for TCX is going to be the commitments to the rest of the Thomas Cook group, especially if that business is viewed as risky. If for example VS or connect were to want to buy (a portion) of TCX the folks in ATL, and also Paris, Amsterdam and Crawley, will want a lot of control over how they run the airline in the future. If TC mandates a % of seats and the routes they fly they airline will be far less valuable to those parties.

 

[jfy1999]

The scene at Manchester this morning

Image courtesy of battenfobs on SSC

 

[rollo]

Nice photo on a beautiful morning but such a so sad sight.

 

[Land23R]

Normally I'd be pleased to see shots of Manchester Airport on the BBC News with film of a Malaysian A380 and Atlas Air landing and a very busy west apron. Not today though. Such a shame that it takes a depressing situation for the airport to get media attention.

 

[User1007]

Perhaps it's a bit soon to start talking about what comes next, but how many destinations are now unserved from Manchester?

Seattle, San Francisco, Cuba, and for the Winter Antigua, St Lucia and the Gambia. I think Mytilene might be the only one in Europe?

 

[Scottie Dog]

Having struggled to get to the airport this morning by train - due to a mentally unstable person creating a bomb scare that necessitated a controlled explosion by the bomb-squad - I managed to get the following photographs of the 12 TCX aircraft that had been impounded by Manchester Airport. This included the first aircraft to have set its wheels on part of taxiway Echo (a sad start to the week).

There were also 2 LY-*** registered aircraft that were still in operation as part of the rescue mission (using AWC flight number but a callsign of Camber)

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