Someone stating that there's no expansion in fleet. Others speculating on 44 orders.
The Thomas Cook Group has announced a narrow body fleet replacement with Airbus A320 family aircraft (320s and 321s). These will replace existing airframes and are not intended for expansion. The replacement aircraft are destined for all four group airlines and Thomas Cook UK might not be the first to get them - it will depend on lease expiries and aircraft could well be shared between the group airlines short-term.
In any event no significant expansion is envisaged and the UK fleet is planned to remain at around 40 to 45 aircraft in the summer season. If i recall correctly we had 42 in 2008, 44 in 2009, 43 in 2010 and 41 are planned for 2011.
This can change in the coming weeks as January is the peak booking period for summer holidays and the tour operator may request additional capacity from the airline at reasonably short notice.
I would not be at all surprised if bookings are good then an extra 1 or 2 aircraft may be needed which makes a holding pool of pilots essential as they will need to train people quickly to fill seats by May 1st.