That may be the case Spacedog but it doesn't get away from the point zfw is making - namely those people who went on Thomas Cook holidays and flights are not necessarily going to pay more for the trip with someone else. TC were very good at getting people to travel at a certain price point. Therefore passengers numbers at all TC airports are likely to suffer for some time. People used to paying say £200 for a flight to the Med are not suddenly going to be willing to pay £400. Jet2 and EasyJet used to be known as 'low-cost airlines' in reality they aren't - those days are gone. It's often cheaper to fly one stop through a European hub with a legacy carrier these days.
Also the prospects of getting to the Caribbean from somewhere not called Gatwick are pretty much screwed for the foreseeable future. The Manchester offering which was pretty good, has been decimated. The options going West through the US gateways don't work due to the fact most US carriers head to the Caribbean in the morning - before the inbound MAN flights arrive, meaning you have to overnight at the airport with all the hassle and expense involved. Certainly my holiday plans will not include the Caribbean for quite some time after this setback even though I like it out there.