Originally Posted by
MrKipling
debt is debt.
But not all debt is equal. Being in debt to the government is very different to being in debt to the banks, especially to the German government who aren't hell bent on destroying the aviation industry.
Originally Posted by
MrKipling
One of the companies is billions in debt the other not so much. One company seems to have been over optimistic the other more pessimistic perhaps..
One is completely exposed to the decisions of the UK government, the other (and every other UK airline for that matter) is not. TUI, easyJet, Ryanair, Wizzair and IAG will all let their European operations drag the UK part through to the day when common sense finally prevails here. Virgin (and IAG) have built up a solid cargo operation which is seeing them through. Jet2 don't have any of that.
TUI and Jet2 may be direct competitors here, but they are fundamentally different companies as a whole. There's no point comparing their respective decisions to restart or not. It was easier for TUI to restart as they have resort staff, hotels and infrastructure in place to cater for the European factions that have had much fewer restrictions placed on them by their respective governments. TUI DE, NL and BE are more or less back up to a full schedule, with only a few destinations currently off limits.
I do believe the outlook is a lot rosier now though, for reasons highlighted by people above. The world is reopening, and unlike last year, jobs are starting to pop up. Any redundancies are unlikely at this stage due to the requirements for Summer 22, and any redundancies that are made won't necessarily spell the end of one's career.