Category Archives: Thomas Cook Airlines (UK)

Thomas Cook Group unveils its new “Sunny Heart” livery

Thomas Cook Group (London) has unveiled its new “Sunny Heart” livery. Airbus A321-211 G-TCDC (msn 5872) was delivered to Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) on November 22 and will go into revenue service in mid December. the second of the 23 new Airbus A321 aircraft to be delivered to the Thomas Cook Group Airlines by 2016, previously announced in early 2013. This follows the first A321 delivered to sister airline Condor Flugdienst (Frankfurt) in May 2013.

Six aircraft will be deployed in the UK and will be in operation by the summer season of 2014.

The group explains the new look, a departure from its traditional blue and white colors:

“Our new ’Sunny Heart’ livery expresses the philosophy of our airline; our team putting their heart into every flight and making sure our customers’ holiday starts as soon as they board their flight to their holiday destination. The Sunny Heart is the perfect symbol for our passion to create memorable holidays for our guests.”

G-TCDC is also the first Airbus aircraft in the Thomas Cook Group to be fitted with wing-tip Sharklets which help the aircraft fly using less fuel, contributing – with the new fuselage shape – to an overall fuel efficiency of up to 6 per cent compared to the existing aircraft in the fleet.

Meanwhile Condor Flugdienst has already painted its first aircraft in the new brand, Boeing 757-330 D-ABOJ (above).

Copyright Photo: Bernhard Ross/AirlinersGallery.com. Condor’s Boeing 757-330 D-ABOJ (msn 29010) sits at the Frankfurt base today between flights in the new look.

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK):

Condor Flugdienst:

Video: Painting of the first A321 for Condor (in the old colors):

Video: Thomas Cook Airlines:

Thomas Cook Airlines to move to Orlando International Airport in 2014

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) is planning to move its Orlando operations from Orlando-Sanford International Airport in Sanford, Florida (SFB) to Orlando International Airport (MCO) for the summer season of 2014. MCO will be serviced from Glasgow, London-Gatwick and Manchester with Airbus A330s per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A330-243 G-TCXA (msn 795) climbs beautifully away from Toronto (Pearson).

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK):

WestJet to again lease two Boeing 757-200s from Thomas Cook Airlines

WestJet (Calgary) has announced it has once again leased two Boeing 757-200 aircraft from Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) to deliver nonstop, daytime service between Calgary and Honolulu , Calgary and Maui, and between Edmonton and Maui.

Pending regulatory approval*, flights are scheduled to begin December 13, 2013 , and continue through April 26, 2014 . Details of WestJet’s seasonal non-stop service include:

Route	Weekly frequency
Between Calgary and Honolulu	Twice weekly
Between Calgary and Maui	Four times weekly
Between Edmonton and Maui	Three times weekly

*Flights to be operated by Thomas Cook Airlines’ 757s, subject to Canadian Transportation Agency concurrence.

WestJet flight attendants on board the Boeing 757-200s will ensure the same great WestJet guest experience while Thomas Cook Airlines will provide the aircraft and pilots. The increase in capacity will ensure more Albertans can enjoy non-stop WestJet service to the Hawaiian Islands. WestJet is the only airline providing capacity for Thomas Cook’s tour operator arm in the Canadian market as part of a successful, Canada-wide partnership for the third year in a row.

Copyright Photo: Matt Dueck. North American Airlines (New York-JFK) started operating for WestJet Airlines (Calgary) on February 12, 2011 with its Boeing 757-28A N750NA (msn 26277). The larger aircraft operated with WestJet titles from Calgary and Edmonton to Hawaii. The lease was only for two months. This airframe was converted to a freighter as N971FD with FedEx Express. Since then Thomas Cook has operated their 757s for WestJet but still in the Thomas Cook livery.

WestJet:

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK):

Thomas Cook Group sells its North American companies

Thomas Cook Group (London) has announced it has agreed to sell Thomas Cook Canada Inc. and Thomas Cook USA Holdings Inc. to Red Label Vacations Inc. The group issued this statement:

Thomas Cook Group plc announces it has agreed to sell Thomas Cook Canada Inc. and Thomas Cook USA Holdings, Inc., together known as Thomas Cook North America (“TCNA”), to Red Label Vacations Inc. (which trades as Redtag.ca “Red Tag”). The transaction is for cash consideration of $5.3 million Canadian dollars (£3.4 million at current exchange rates).

TCNA operates a tour operator and distribution network in Canada. TCNA also owns ABC Corporate Services Inc. and D-FW Travel Arrangements Inc. in the United States.

Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including clearance by the Competition Bureau of Canada, the release of guarantees provided by Thomas Cook Group plc to third parties on behalf of TCNA and the release of guarantees provided by TCNA in support of the Group’s financing arrangements. The transaction is expected to complete by May 31, 2013. Proceeds will be used to reduce the borrowings of the Thomas Cook Group.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography. Boeing 757-28A C-GJZB (msn 28203) operated by Jazz Aviation taxies at the Toronto (Pearson) base.

Thomas Cook (Canada):

Editor’s “To The Point” Observation”: At the height of Thomas Cook Canada, Jazz Aviation was operating a fleet of six leased Boeing 757-200s under the Thomas Cook Airlines (Canada) brand. On April 13, 2012 Thomas Cook announced it was ending the five-year contract with Jazz and all services ended on April 30, 2012. Since then Thomas Cook has been using other airlines as needed.

Thomas Cook to merge Condor, Thomas Cook Belgium and Thomas Cook UK into one airline on March 1

Thomas Cook Group (London) has announced it will merge Condor Flugdienst (Frankfurt), Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) and Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium) (Brussels) into one airline within the group on March 1.

The merger is part of Thomas Cook’s turnaround plan. It is unclear if the historic Condor name will be retired.

Read the full report from Reuters: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf. Condor already wear sthe Thomas Cook brand but still clings to its historic Condor name. Boeing 767-330 ER D-ABUH (msn 26986) taxies to the runway at Munich with the additional Peanuts characters.

Condor Flugdienst:

Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium):

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK):

Middle Copyright Photo: Karl Cornil. Thomas Cook Airlines’ (Belgium) Airbus A320-232 OO-TCN (msn 425) with the image of Kim Clijsters arrives at the Belgium base.

Bottom Copyright Photo: Keith Burton. Boeing 757-28A G-FCLH (msn 26274) of Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) completes its final approach into London (Gatwick).

Thomas Cook Group to use easyJet next summer for their package deals

Thomas Cook Group (London) will reportedly book its package tour customers on low-cost easyJet (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) next summer raising concerns about the long-term prospects on its own in-house Thomas Cook Airlines (Manchester).

Read the full report from Sunday Times and the Stropshire Star: CLICK HERE

easyJet (UK):

Frameable Color Prints and Posters:

Accident Report: Thomas Cook pilot misses the aircraft weight by 17 tons on takeoff

Thomas Cook Airlines (Thomas Cook.com) (UK) Airbus A321-211 G-SMTJ (msn 1972) MAN (Gunter Mayer), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Thomas Cook Airlines (Thomas Cook.com) (UK) (Manchester) had an incident at Manchester on April 29, 2011 involving one of its Airbus A321s. The accident report has now been issued by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

According to this report by Mail Online, “223 passengers on board narrowly avoided disaster after the captain miscalculated its weight by 17 tons.

The Airbus A321 was due to fly from Manchester airport to Heraklion in Crete when the captain was asked for its takeoff weight – and read off the wrong figure.

As a consequence the aircraft took off without enough thrust or speed which could have caused the pilot to lose control, endangering all those on board.

Luckily, the pilot actually flying the plane noticed that something was wrong, and made adjustments which averted disaster.”

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Thomas Cook Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Thomas Cook fights to regain the confidence of UK passengers

Thomas Cook Airlines (Thomas Cook.com) (UK) Airbus A330-243 G-TCXA (msn 795) YYZ (TMK Photography), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) is fighting to regain its package tour and charter market share after experiencing a 30 percent drop in bookings during the recent headlines concerning its financial problems and subsequent refinancing. Now that the carrier has lined up new financing it will have to win back the confidence of the UK market according to this report by Reuters.

Meanwhile rival TUI Travel in taking out advertisements in the UK pointing out the financial problems at Thomas Cook are not the same at its Thomson Airways subsidiary.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Thomas Cook’s stock tumbles as it goes to the banks for financial help

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK)-Thomas Cook.com Boeing 757-236 G-TCBB (msn 29945) (Egypt-where it all begins) LGW (Antony J. Best), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Thomas Cook Group (London) has lost nearly three-quarters of its market value on the London Stock Exchange after the ailing firm admitted it had gone back to the banks for more financial help according to this report by the Press Association.

Thomas Cook Group plc is a travel company created on June 19, 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc. At flotation on the London Stock Exchange 52% of the shares in the new company were held by the German mail order and department store corporation Arcandor (former owners of Thomas Cook AG) and 48% owned by the shareholders of MyTravel. On June 9, 2009 Arcandor filed for bankruptcy. The merger, which was backed by 99.9% of shareholders, took place through the formation of “NewCo” which effectively purchased MyTravel and Thomas Cook and was then listed on the London Stock Exchange under the name of Thomas Cook Group plc.

The Thomas Cook Group plc is the parent organization of Condor Flugdienst, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium), Thomas Cook Airlines (Canada) and Thomas Cook Airlines (UK).

Read the full story: CLICK HERE

Thomas Cook (UK) Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Thomas Cook Airlines UK to shrink fleet by six aircraft and eliminate 250 jobs

Thomas Cook Airlines (Thomas Cook.com) (UK) Airbus A330-243 G-TCXA (msn 795) YYZ (TMK Photography), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (Manchester) confirmed it would shrink its fleet by six aircraft and eliminate 250 positions according to this article by TravelMole.

Three Airbus A330-200s will be returned to the leasing company along with an Airbus A320-200. In addition a Boeing 767-300 will be shifted to Condor Flugdienst and a fourth A330-200 will transferred to Thomas Cook Scandinavia.

Read the full article: CLICK HERE

Thomas Cook UK Slide Show: CLICK HERE