Leodis / Hooded
1) loosing Thomsonfly would be a problem. In seat terms, they are the largest charter operator over summer and represent the vast majority of what is left of the winter IT programme
2) I suspect your crtiticism of 'Thomsonfly' should be redirected towards 'TUI'. The lack of charter capacity is I imagine a decision by the tour operator not to offer seats ex-Leeds, rather than an unwillingness on the airline's part not to fly the routes. The clearest evidence is surely the large number of 'w' patterns ex-Leeds. I can't believe this is a choice of the airline arm but rather a reflection of the tour operating division choosing not to offer additional routes / seats from Leeds. So today (Tues) we had a 757 routing LBA-ALC-xxx-ALC-LBA. At NCL, it was NCL-ALC-NCL-TFS-NCL. Who made the decision not to fly Leeds-Tenerife and instead 'w' the aircraft into MME otr HUY? Not the airline I suspect
3) The lack of charter capacity relative to other airports, compared to a very healthy position on leisure orientated scheduled services relative to the same airports, is widely known and acknowledged. I suspect it is not being allowed to drfit by without efforts and hard work on a number of fronts to resolve it. Ultimately it remains the battle it always has been for the last 10 or 11 years, which is presuading tour operators to serve the Leeds/Bradford catchment from Leeds Bradford Airport rather than Manchester. Just as it is with services to the Isle of Man, Germany, Scandanavia, Pakistan, the US.........
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