Thomsonfly From Cardiff
 

There be a rumour circulatin that ThomsonFly could possibly be flying from CWL?? any info anyone???

never

gonna

happen

Regards

Mike

Why's it never gonna happen aeulad?

Britannia have a base at CWL. Britannia are rebranding as Thomsonfly, therefore you will see Thomsonfly aircraft at CWL.

Thomsonfly in its current guise, the 737 operator based at CVT and shortly DSA, will not start a base at CWL because there are insufficient 737 sized markets, not currently served by bmibaby.

It would be highly unlikely that Thomsonfly would take on bmibaby, the market is not large enough for 2 players. Air Wales and bmibaby have CWL pretty much sewn up. The only 737 size markets left from CWL are along the lines of Nice, Barcelona, Murcia, Faro and maybe Venice at a push. Venice and Nice being the only current Tfly destinations.

There are no domestic routes left, and bmibaby have europe pretty much sorted.

I may be wrong, but surely this comes down to pure business sense? :)

Regards

Mike

As you will see at many other airports around the country, but not necessarily in the 'scheduled' mode.

I have heard that CWL airport authorities have approached ThomsonFly to fly from Cardiff. So its not as far-fetched as it may seem.

Cheers Now

Britannia airways is to be re-branded as Thomsonfly. Come on RS, I thought you would have known that one or JW might have.:)

check here to read more

99% true...I understand all wiil be scheduled...following the TUI AG model...

What!!!!!. With a fleet of 757/767s. Don't think so.

MW - all at cwl are fully aware that BY are re-branding but it is true that CWL authority have approached thomsonFly the 737 operator to op out of CWL

wb_master

Does this mean the CWL management is unhappy with bmibaby?

After all, if ThomsonFly did set up at CWL they surely would not ignore baby's profitable ALC and AGP routes. I can't see there would be enough pax to go round for two operators on these routes, although other routes such as Venice and Barcelona (not flown from CWL at present) might be operated as well.

If what you say is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, I get the feeling that CWL must be disappointed with baby who don't seem to have really kicked on with the development of their route network that was hinted at when they set up at CWL.

On a general note with ThomsonFly, can anyone tell me whether the scheduled part of the airline (as operated out of Coventry) will be operated separately from what is currently Britannia? Or will it be one airline with pilots etc being liable to switch from one section of the airline to the other - I realise there would be a degree of conversion training because of the different types of aircraft.

baby were enticed with WDA subsidies. Once the cash ran out, baby could then cut and run!

Read my many previous posts!

Airlines are searching for someone else to pay thier costs, I understand the WDA provided European funds to help baby fly from Wales!

Those new routes would either fail after 24 months, or continue without European support?

This baby has a story to tell:-

http://whipsnade.co.uk/picturelibrar...r_120_wide.jpg

Buster

From what you seem to be saying baby's 'help' has now run out

So is it likely that if a new loco (whether ThomsonFly or someone else) set up at CWL, they could then expect to receive similar WDA help?

If so, we could see a succession of low cost airlines setting up there in turn to get their share of the money, then make way for the next airline once the dosh had run out.

Is this a scenario that you envisage? I assume you have studied the situation as you say you have posted regularly on it in the past.

to be honset i have no idea how CIAL feel about baby. It seems that routes have not as yet become a focus point but i am sure that if cardiff authorities can make operating from cwl as cheap as possible for thomsonfly then it is unlikely they will turn the offer down.

-

On the note of cross-rating 737/757/767 i am not sure if crew would be able or asked to alternate but i do know that Britannia Management and thomsonfly management are completely seperate at station level. TUI Operations now cover both BY and ThomsonFly so who knows??? anyone know anymore????

There is much talk at present on a closer harmonisation of mainline and TOM. One rumour doing the rounds is that pilots will be either 73/75 or 75/76. BALPA are working on closer alignment of T&Cs so the general shift seems to be to a single entity.

Some TOM Capts are ex (relatively) junior Mainline FOs. They are at TOM for 5 yrs min with the option to return if there is a place. This may sting a bit because it may turn out that a TOM Capt would look to return to the Mainline fleet but find that guys senior to him are still FOs. The Senirity List is already a common one for both.

The logical (?) extension to all of this would be fleets as above, common senoiority, T&Cs (less some aspects such as pension) and A/C rostered to suit the thickness of the city pair route, regardless of callsign. So, a Mainline flightdeck with TOM CC on a Mainline 75 flying a TOM route? Who knows?

Ops for all of TUI is based in HAJ.

This thread could probably now be applied to any of BY's current bases. Taking Cardiff as an example, I see that their timetable is fairly extensive but very few of their destinations would allow multi sector days. I presume that this would mean adding a few more destinations that aren't covered i.e AMS, ORK etc. to bring the operation closer in line to that of Tfly Coventry. Aswell as increasing frequencies of flights like AGP, PMI. If you then apply that to every BY base, you have a massive expansion which hasn't yet been talked about by the company. Very interesting times though!

The merging of the t+c's is also interesting. A previous post said that they are likely to be brought in line with each other (except pension) but don't t-fly guys/girls have the right to join the final salary scheme, once they transfer to Britannia mainline? which in effect they will be doing.

Regards
le loup garou