Thomas Cook, Air Transat Agree to Exchange Aircraft Seasonally

Thomas Cook Group Airlines and Canada’s Air Transat recently signed a seven-year agreement for the exchange of aircraft on a seasonal basis.

Under the terms of the agreement, Thomas Cook every winter will make available to Air Transat a number of narrow body Airbus A321s and will receive at least one wide-body Airbus A330-200 in return. This will enable both companies to manage and utilize their fleets more efficiently.

The agreement takes advantage of the different seasonality of the two companies: Thomas Cook uses smaller aircraft in summertime to fly to destinations around the Mediterranean Sea and larger wide-body aircraft in the winter to fly to the long-haul destinations like Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

“By taking advantage of the complementary seasonal demand in North America and Europe, we will be able to operate additional long-haul flights during winter and better balance the seasonal demand for our short- and medium-haul aircraft, resulting in more cost efficiency and choice for our customers,” Thomas Cook Group chief airline officer Christoph Debus said.

On the other hand, Air Transat uses a greater number of smaller aircraft in winter to serve its destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida, and larger aircraft in summer to serve the transatlantic market.

“This agreement allows us to improve our flexible-fleet model… Our fleet will eventually consist solely of Airbus A330 and aircraft from the A320 family, such as  the A321, which will mean a more harmonized travel experience for our customers as well as lower operating costs,” Jean-Marc Eustache, president and chief executive officer of Air Transat underlined.

Discover the World Greece & Cyprus is the General Sales Agent (GSA) of Thomas Cook Group Airlines.