Satoshi Nakamoto
With regard to TCX's use of ACMI (and it is reasonable to assume TUI's motivation would be the same) the objective was to enable expansion in the most cost effective way and at the same time drive down the fixed cost of running an airline all year. This often caused tension between the management and the pilot workforce (not cabin crew, as company crew were used to ensure on board product standardization) due to the feeling, sometimes backed up by stated intention, that the direction of travel was towards more ACMI and less TCX fleet. In the end, Union negotiation enabled a compromise to be reached so that both parties could be reasonably satisfied that UK jobs were secure and that the company could be cost effective. There were casualty's along the way. A couple of small bases were dis-established for year round pilots jobs, but in the years up to TCX's failure in-house pilot recruitment was maintained and increased in spite of an increase in ACMI use during the summer. I have absolutely no doubt that ACMI usage in TCX would have been far greater if the Union had not been there to push back against it. None of this had much bearing on the eventual Group business failing. as that was due to the greed and rank amateurishness of the Board of Directors, as pointed out when they were publicly humiliated by Rachael Reeve MP, during the House of Commons Business Select Committee investigation into the failure. TUI seem to be run by a lot of far smarter people than TCG was, the question is, are they smart enough to out-run Covid19.?