Thomas Cook Airlines is actually regarded as the aviation arm of the tour operator (which include airtours,club 1830, sunset,style,panorama,manos,direct holidays, neilson etc etc). the official company name is in fact Thomas Cook Airline Services and they regard themselves as the transport division of the t/o. as for TCX not going bust if TCTO did - is ridiculous! although they do carry pax from external t/o's - the majority are in house - so would have an immediate knock on effect. like in the case of XL it was actually The XL Leisure Group that went bust including the airline.