Spanish Offshoot for Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook Group Airlines has unveiled plans for a new Spanish subsidiary.  The Palma de Majorca-based offshoot, Thomas Cook Airlines Balearics, has applied for its own AOC and expects to launch flights early next year.

Initial services will initially be flown by three Airbus A320s acquired from the group’s Belgian division, replacing existing capacity provided by Frankfurt-based Condor.  This in turn will enable the German carrier to axe several third-party aircraft leases.

Thomas Cook Group’s Chief Airline Officer Christoph Debus commented: “The new airline and base will provide us with the right platform to better manage the seasonal demand in our business, giving us more control at lower cost as we continue to expand the choice of destinations we offer our customers.  With more than one million Thomas Cook customers flying into Palma every year, we have a strong existing infrastructure on which to build.”

This follows news the group had reached an agreement with Montréal-based Air Transat that will see the two exchanging aircraft on a seasonal basis.