Thomas Cook Airlines

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Thomas Cook Airlines

IATA MT	ICAO TCX	Callsign TOP JET
Founded		1 September 1999
Hubs		Birmingham,London Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle
Fleet size		24
Destinations
Parent company		Thomas Cook AG/KarstadtQuelle AG
Headquarters		Manchester, United Kingdom
Key people
Website: http://www.thomascookairlines.co.uk/

Thomas Cook Airlines Boeing 757-200 series at Glasgow International Airport July 2006.

This article is about Thomas Cook Airlines in the UK. For Thomas Cook Airlines in Belgium, see Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium).

Thomas Cook Airlines is a charter airline based in Manchester, United Kingdom. It serves all the main holiday resorts in the Mediterranean and more distant countries from Birmingham, Nottingham East Midlands, Glasgow, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Manchester, Doncaster-Sheffield and Newcastle. Its main bases are Manchester (MAN) and London Gatwick (LGW).

Thomas Cook Airlines UK Limited holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, it is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. ^[1]

1 History
2 Fleet
3 Incidents
- 3.1 External links
4 References

[edit] History

The airline was established on 1 September 1999 and started operations on 27 March 2000. It was created as JMC Airlines through the merger of Flying Colours Airlines and Caledonian Airways, following the integration of the Carlson Leisure group with Thomas Cook, which bought both airlines under common ownership in October 1999. JMC Airlines was renamed as Thomas Cook Airlines UK on 30 March 2003. The airline is wholly owned by Thomas Cook.

The airline operates for a number of tour operators but Thomas Cook Tour Operations is the main user of the airline. Thomas Cook Airlines launched its own seat only service in 2005 under the name Fly Thomas Cook.

Thomas Cook initially operated under the callsign 'Globe' however, the Spanish Air Traffic Controllers complained about the callsign, as they felt 'Globe' sounded similar to the Spanish word for condom and so the callsign was changed to Topjet.

Thomas Cook retained the format of JMC Airlines operating its fleet unchanged since the airline was formed. Few new destinations have been added.

Thomas Cook Airlines, with Canadian Affair (tour operator), offers flights to Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal and Ottawa from London-Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham airports in the United Kingdom. The flights to Eastern Canada are operated by re-configured Boeing 757-200 aircraft with 189 seats and 35" seat pitch. The Western Canada flights are on Airbus A330 aircraft.

The company was incorporated on 24 January 1996 as Flying Colours Airlines Limited, it changed it name to JMC Airlines Limited on the 28 April 2000. The company changed to its present name Thomas Cook Airlines UK Limited on the 31 March 2003.^[2]

[edit] Fleet

G-JMAA a Boeing 757-300 series at Manchester International Airport

The Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of November 2006) ^[3] :

In August 2006, Thomas Cook fleet average age is 9.4 years old.

Whilst appearing to be a relatively efficient airline, there have been a vast number of complaints by passengers about the extremely small legroom provided on the majority of their flights. Customer satisfaction regarding the flight experience is understood to be ranked amongst the lowest of the charter airlines. Numerous customers have stated they will never give Thomas Cook Airline repeat business.

[edit] Incidents

A Airbus A330-200 en route Manchester - Cayo Coco on July 4, 2005 suffered from extreme engine problems on the number one engine whilst operating under ETOPS over the North Atlantic. The aircraft returned to Manchester where it was deemed unflyable.
A Boeing 757-200 en route Montreal-London Gatwick was forced to make an emergency landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport on July 2, 2006 evening after the crew reported a hydraulic problem.
A Boeing 757-200 en route Manchester-Menorca on July 6, 2006 was hit by lightning as it was climbing out of Manchester. The aircraft diverted and landed safely at London's Gatwick around 8am.
A Boeing 757-200 en route Birmingham-Lanzarote on July 6, 2006 was hit by lightning as it was climbing out of Birmingham. The aircraft diverted and landed safely at Manchester around.
A Boeing 757-200 en route Tenerife-Newcastle earlier this year (2006) was thought to have a fire on board the aircraft. It diverted to Manchester and had to make an emergency landing.