Mooncrest ; I think you deliberately missed out AIR EUROPE knowing it would get me started ! Thanks to friend & colleague, Brakedwell, we got a look in.
Quite right about the season start of May 1st. Fun bit was that we were full pax out and, of course, no-one down route to bring back. Empty sectors ; pure joy for operating crew. In the really old days, stories of all sorts of hanky-panky going on !
AE was exposure to the fact that the season started on May ist but worse, ended in September. Empty out and bring back the last lot of the summer season. My first roster in 1979 showed no flying whatsoever in October. Chief Pilot told me to enjoy the ret and paint the garage doors. Pure IT stuff looked like winters would be bleak. We soon got into winter IT and the garage doors never got painted.