Its amazing that Thomson have not seen a gap yet to put on extra flights in the 4 / 5 month period to Tenerife / Alicante / Malaga for example to at least help with this loss and make a few pounds in the meantime . The utilisation of the based aircraft is shocking in the winter
Don't you think Thomson have considered this and rejected the idea? After all, they pulled Gran Canaria for this winter (hence I am having to go from Exeter). It is obvious Thomson do not think the market is there - despite what many "experts" on here think. I am sure Thomson would love to increase the aircraft's utilisation - but not if it means operating at a loss.
What most people are forgetting when discussing Ryanair's departure for the winter is that RYR ground a lot of their fleet over the winter - because a significant proportion of their pilots have run out of hours for the year. A maximum of 100hrs a month but only 900 for the year means that, as they are worked hard in the summer, they run out of hours over the winter. The flight crews that still have hours are used on more lucrative routes than BOH. This is slightly simplified but this is a major part of RYR's reasoning.