Thomas Cook Airlines extends partnership with MAG
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Above: (left to right) Christoph Debus, Chief Airlines and Hotels Officer for Thomas Cook Group and Ken O’Toole, Managing Director of Manchester Airport.
To celebrate the commitment to Manchester Airport, the airline has also today announced new routes with two flights a week to both Los Angeles and Boston from May 2016 – the only routes to these iconic US cities from outside London, building on the airlines’ new routes to New York (JFK) and Miami which began with inaugural flights last weekend on the newly refurbished A330 fleet displaying the airlines new livery (picture attached).
With the added news of an additional Airbus A330 long haul aircraft in 2016, Thomas Cook Airlines is now the biggest long haul carrier at Manchester Airport, having the largest number of wide-body long haul aircraft - a fleet of six operating from Manchester will serve six US destinations, more than any other airline.
As well as Los Angeles and Boston from 2016, existing routes increase in frequency too – New York increase to six flights a week, Orlando becomes a daily service in the peak season in summer 2016 and Las Vegas increase to up to six flights a week. In addition to the airlines’ Caribbean routes launched in 2013, Thomas Cook Airlines has now further established Manchester as its long haul base and route connection hub from Europe to the USA - feeder flights are available from a range of UK regional airports with Flybe, and from across Europe with SAS and Lufthansa.
Commenting on the extension of the partnership and new routes, Christoph Debus, Chief Airlines and Hotels Officer for Thomas Cook Group, said, “We are incredibly proud to have the largest non-stop route network from Manchester Airport, with 15 long haul destinations including six to the USA - more long haul routes than any other carrier from Manchester. Based on our relationship with Manchester Airports Group, we will continue to grow passenger numbers by over 20%, including further developing our long haul network by 50 per cent in summer 2016. With Manchester as a hub for our airlines across Europe as a gateway to the USA, today’s announcement of new routes to Los Angeles and Boston is great news for our customers with even more choice from outside London.”
Ken O’Toole, Managing Director of Manchester Airport, said: "MAG has a very strong relationship with Thomas Cook Airlines and the expansion at Manchester continues to confirm the airport as the UKs global gateway from the North.
“The announcement of services to Los Angeles and Boston, which makes Manchester the only airport outside of London to offer them, complements Thomas Cook's recent launches of New York and Miami. With over 22m people living within our two hour catchment, two full length runways and all-time record passenger numbers, Manchester Airport is, and will continue to have, the available capacity and demand to meet the needs of our catchment that extends as far north as Scotland and South to the Midlands.”
The airline confirmed last year that it is introducing long haul services at London Stansted this summer with flights to Cancun, Las Vegas and Orlando from July, and has committed to retaining its current flight programme from East Midlands Airport.
Short haul customers from Manchester are also benefiting from increased choice through more flights representing a capacity increase of 50,000 in 2015 by the addition of a further short haul aircraft – one of the airlines’ brand new A321 fleet. Flights to Antalya in Turkey will increase from four times per week to daily this summer with further increases on flights to Bodrum, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Larnaca, Palma, Paphos Sharm el Sheik, Skiathos and Tenerife.
Thomas Cook Airlines agreement with Manchester Airports Group, for a further five years from 1 November 2014, will see the airline grow the number of seats on offer across MAG’s airports by 15% - including a 21% increase at Manchester - compared to figures in 2013.
