It's apparently been a very bad year for UK tour operators. From what I can gather, whether the summer charter work at LBA has been profitable or not, it would appear it is viewed as not worth to the company the deployment of the resources involved, therefore it is a commercial decision that no tender for the contract was made. If Astraeus, running a very tight ship, does not find the contract remunerative, one can only hope that whoever does take it does not suffer a severe shock! It was run with tight crewing, resources and excellent equipment (737NG), and wth very high load factors. I can't think where additional savings could be made. Maybe Rumanian crew paid in Kwachas flying Ilyushins?