Originally Posted by
WHBM
6 flights a day sounds like 3 aircraft stood down. There is capacity available from other operators in various countries, but presumably not at a price TUI's board are prepared to pay. Yes, they will lose money. Yes, some ACMI owner will be able to buy their second yacht on the strength of it. But you have sold your product and now have to honour your commitments.
You’re missing two points though. The first is that the ACMI operators, bar the odd exception (Titan), have been an absolute liability and have caused the majority of the problems from the outset. Even Jet2 aren’t immune to that, with two of their Smartlynx flights from BHX being cancelled yesterday amongst their own delays. A lot (not all) of TUI’s problems have come from trying to fight fires caused by the ACMI’s inability to fulfil their commitments.
The second is that Manchester just can’t cope with the numbers, whether that’s check in, security, airside handling. The place isn’t fit for purpose, so taking three lines of flying out is just designed to thin the numbers a bit, cut the long queues at check in - pictures of which seem to find themselves into the Mail on a daily basis - as well as taking pressure off the crewing and aircraft availability pinch points.
The majority of customers affected will be able to rebook for the same period, as they’ve been given enough notice. Those cancelled within two weeks will receive EU261 as well. Quite frankly it’s what they should’ve done two weeks ago, rather than let it knock on this badly.