Thomas Cook: European aviation market disruption costs doubled for summer 2018

Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser stated (30-Nov-2018) the Thomas Cook Group Airline "delivered strong growth in customers and profit", benefiting from increasing capacity in a turbulent European aviation sector. Thomas Cook reported the European aviation market disruption in summer 2018 was a result of delays in new aircraft registrations, a shortage on spare parts and an ATC system that was not fully prepared for the strong growth. As a result, the company suffered GBP101 million in irregular costs such as passenger compensation and welfare, sub-charters for services and denied boarding fees, compared to GBP49 million in summer 2017. The Group Airline has put several measures in place to optimise operational performance, including additional reserve aircraft and streamlining its aircraft basing arrangements. Thomas Cook now has an all Airbus fleet in UK and Scandinavia and all Boeing aircraft operated in Germany. It has also introduced a dedicated team for customer communications in the case of delays. [more - original PR]