Recent presentation by Peter Long to FC staff stated that the likelyhood of a hostile bid coming from Airtours for FC was practically zero for the reasons mentioned above.
However he did say that if the block was overturned by Brussels then a merger of two of the four big players in the UK market was very possible, in fact if I remember correctly he said 'almost certain'.
That could be Airtours/Thomas Cook/FC/JMC take your pick, but consolidation is on the cards, and Peter Long made it clear that he wants to come out of the recession as a 'Consolidator' not to be 'Consolidated'!