Thomas Cook Airlines Limited was a British

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

and scheduled

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

headquartered in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England. It was founded in 2007 from the merger of

Thomas Cook Group Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — and ...

and MyTravel Group, and was part of the Thomas Cook Group Airlines. It served leisure destinations worldwide from its main bases at

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2024, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passengers (the busiest outside of London) ...

and

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

on a scheduled and charter basis. It also operated services from eight other bases around the United Kingdom. Thomas Cook Group and all UK entities including Thomas Cook Airlines entered compulsory liquidation on 23 September 2019.

History

The airline was created on 1 September 1999 as JMC Air Limited through the merger of Flying Colours Airlines and

Caledonian Airways Caledonian Airways was a wholly private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations charter airline in the United Kingdom formed in April 1961. It began with a single 104-seat Douglas DC-7#DC-7C, Douglas DC-7C aircraft lease, ...

. following the purchase of

Thomas Cook & Son Thomas Cook & Son, originally simply Thomas Cook, was a British travel company that existed from 1841 to 2001. It arranged transport, tours and holidays worldwide. It was owned by the British government from 1948 to 1972. The company was foun ...

by the Carlson Leisure Group. It started operations on 27 March 2000, operating flights from 6 bases in the UK, offering seat-only bookings and bookings via Thomas Cook Tour Operations. In 2001, the airline became the first UK operator of the stretched Boeing 757-300. In April 2003, Thomas Cook AG rebranded its airlines under the ''Thomas Cook'' name brand. In June 2007, following the merger between Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group to form

, on 30 March 2008, MyTravel Airways was merged with Thomas Cook Airlines. In 2013, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia and

Condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua language, Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. One species, the And ...

merged into a single operating segment of a group named the Thomas Cook Group Airlines. Thomas Cook Airlines carried around 6.4 million passengers during 2015, a six per cent increase compared with 2014.

Collapse

The airline fell into liquidation on 23 September 2019. Airlines around the world took part in ferrying stranded passengers back to the UK, using their aircraft. The repatriation effort covered 165,000 passengers, the largest in UK history, and 65,000 more passengers than the collapse of

Monarch Airlines Monarch Airlines, simply known as Monarch, was a British Air charter, charter and scheduled airline founded by Bill Hodgson and Don Peacock and financed by the Swiss Sergio Mantegazza family. The company later became a low-cost airline in 2004 ...

in 2017. The last flight to depart was MT2643, Registration G-MLJL ( Airbus A330-243) from Orlando to

. The airline's AOC was revoked on 7 November 2019.

Corporate affairs

Overview

Thomas Cook Airlines was part of the airline division of the

, which consisted of three more sister airlines, all of which had a joint fleet management: Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, German-based

and Thomas Cook Airlines Balearics. The airline held a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.

Profits

Business figures

Fleet

Final active fleet

At the time of closure, the Thomas Cook Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Historical fleet

As JMC Air, the airline has previously operated the following aircraft:

Callsigns

The airline has used a number of callsigns:

Cabin

Long haul

Premium economy Thomas Cook offered 'Premium Class' on most long-haul flights on board their Airbus A330 aircraft. The cabin offered extra legroom, wider seats with more recline, personal entertainment, complimentary hot meal and drinks. Economy Thomas Cook's long-haul 'Economy Class' was offered on all Airbus A330 aircraft. It offered a standard 31-inch of seat-pitch, seat-back entertainment, and complimentary hot meal. Drinks and additional snacks were available to purchase.

Short and medium haul

Economy Thomas Cook's short and medium-haul economy cabin on their fleet of A321 aircraft offered a standard seat-pitch of between 28-30-inch at 6-abreast. Drinks and snacks were available to purchase on board or to pre-order and inflight entertainment was available. In 2017, the company introduced ''Economy PLUS, a''n upgraded economy class package on short and medium-haul flights. This package included a priority security lane and check-in, an additional 4 kg of hand luggage, inflight drinks and food, access to in-flight entertainment and an option to reserve their seat.

References

External links

* {{Thomas Cook Group Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 1999 Airlines disestablished in 2019 Defunct charter airlines of the United Kingdom Defunct charter airlines British Air Transport Association Companies based in Manchester