Ok HFS I tried to meet you half way, but with your continued protests I have decided to come to you with facts:
1) The XL Leisure group is refinancing after one of the funding banks (barclays) have pulled out. Although talks are still ongoing with barclays it would seem.
2) XL are also looking for other investors as part of the refinancing.
3) It would seem that fuel is the root cause of the financial problems, which of course is not a unique problem for XL.
4) Yes bookings for 2009 are up compared to last year, and also XL for last month at least have won most punctual airline out of Gatwick Manchester and East Midlands.
Now I m not scare-mongering and I am not out on a hate campaign against XL, I enjoyed working for the company, but it is a very real fact that within the next week or so we could see the end if funding can't be secured. I know you said that the refinancing is going well, but that was also the case for Zoom.
It is a sad time in the airline industry at the moment where good companies just can't secure the funding to continue operating and pay the ever rising fuel costs. It is certainly not just XL that is suffering.
I certainly wish you the best and I hope XL stays in the skies flying, but you need to open your eyes a little to the facts that are being reported. Your own company have confirmed a lot of what is being reported and as much as I admire your lack of trust for the newspapers, I think you need to understand that there must be some element of truth for them to start their story with!
I'm sure we shall find out in a few weeks what is going on and I look forward to being proved wrong.