Jet2.com, easyJet take majority of Thomas Cook Airlines slots
It seems that Thomas Cook Airlines, the UK airline subsidiary of the bankrupt Thomas Cook Group, will not be missed for long. After the company went into liquidation on 23-Sep-2019, the Official Receiver was appointed to sell whatever of its assets it could in order to generate cash for creditors.
Interest in Thomas Cook's slots at a number of UK airports was soon expressed by potential bidders such as IAG, Virgin Atlantic and leading UK LCCs.
On 8-Nov-2019 easyJet announced the acquisition of Thomas Cook slots at London Gatwick Airport and Bristol Airport, followed only hours later by Jet2.com's announcement of its acquisition of Thomas Cook slots at Manchester, Birmingham and Stansted. The two deals account for approximately 70% of Thomas Cook Airlines' summer seat capacity.
For easyJet the acquired slots consolidate its leadership at Gatwick and Bristol.
For Jet2.com the slot acquisitions are more transformational, taking it ahead of Ryanair at Manchester and Birmingham (Jet2.com's two biggest airports) to be the number one airline at both, and taking it ahead of easyJet at Stansted to be number two (behind Ryanair).
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