Will they be joining the TCX Fleet????????

Nope - newer sharkleted ones- ZBAD,ZBAE,ZBAM ZBAO

ex Aeroflot A321 VP-BUM joining fleet , its in TCX Livery now and should be G- Registered soon.

I thought that frame was going to Condor to become D-ATCF?

Jethros has it listed at the moment as G-

D-ATCD has been painted in Sentido livery.

Definetly not on G register. It will be registered as D-ATCF

Flight dates and times here

I had a feeling it wasn't going to Condor as Thomas Cook titles were applied rather than Condor ones. Anyway it's going to Avion Express and will be leased to the TCX Group for the summer season.

It will be registered LY-VEC for Avion and is on a long term lease to TCUK. Planned to be based at MAN for S18 like VEG & VEH last summer, with LY-VED planned to join also.

I have a few of questions regarding the A330 fleet if anyone’s able to help.

Firstly a bit of a bug bear of mine but does anyone know if CHTZ is planned to be painted into the new livery as its still in the hybrid AFAIK?

Secondly VYGK, in all economy layout, how do they determine where to send this a/c. I regularly see it on MAN-JFK but would have thought this would need the premium seats, also is there any plans to add premium to it?

VYGM coming in for the summer, will this be all economy as well?

Finally they are due a 330-300 from Scandinavia. This is in all economy currently and regularly does European holiday flights. Is this the same for when it comes here or will it go 2 class for long haul ops?

TZ- it’s not due in for repaint for a while yet, it was one of the last to be done into paint scheme. Showing as due 2021

GK- w17/18 it was mainly on the JFK route in full economy. S18 is is operating some JFK & MCO flights and is sold as operated by Air Tanker on these selected flights. The core A330 fleet will operate alongside GK offering Premium for those at want it. Possibility that premium may be added in future, but nothing concrete ATM.

GM- All economy as per S17 and will be operating SEA,BOS and some JFK. Possibility it will receive TCUK interior, but doubting it will be for S18.

A330-300 VKG is back for S18 at MAN early May then off to GLA and STN peak summer. Full economy as previous years at 380 seats, which is a slight reduction on the Scandinavian confit during winter.

On a side note, A321 G–TCDV was ferried MAN–EMA yesterday for repaint into the new (or should I say current) livery. That still leaves G–DHJH, G–NIKO, G–TCDA/CDB aswell as G–CHTZ to be repainted.

MT will also be leasing a HiFly A330–200 for S18, based at MAN.

Would be interested to know the routes which Hi-fly aircraft is operating. They are using so many non TCX aircraft this year, especially long haul without the promised on board product.

Had a look at MAN-SEA for an upcoming trip but decided against using TCX....US West Coast is too much journey in Economy after long days working. Not so bad if you've just been on holiday I suppose.

TCX really need to sort out the consistency of their long-haul product if they're looking for long term long-haul success. I was talking to one of their resident agents at JFK some weeks ago. She said even they aren't sure when Premium is available on the route and on which days....god help the rest of us. She also said that when it is available, it's 'totally sold-out'. I don't understand why TCX can't be more commercially astute. There appears to be a queue of people (with me in it) who are happy to give them more money for more comfort.
My own anecdotal view of both JFK and BOS both of which I've used on a number of occasions is that there are plenty of people using the services for non-vacation reasons, including one really senior exec I was sat next to in PE at the end of last year.
For MAN-SEA...all economy...can't 'SEA' that one lasting unfortunatley

All of the ‘blue’ besides DB & TZ will be painted by end of May, slots are booked in EM@ over the coming weeks.

The Hifly A330 is reserve aircraft and planned to operate some shorthaul routes. Obviously if it needs to ops L/H then can be activated and utilised quickly. Apart from GM all other L/H aircraft have TCX interiors, some with slightly different config, eg GK all economy. With the exclusion of SEA all other L/H routes have premium available, core fleet operates JFK/MCO on specific days

If the Hi-Fly aircraft is a reserve A/C for short haul then I wonder why the TCX airlines website shows this:

HiFly product information for Summer 18 coming soon

Long-haul summer 2018

The Hifly information is actually under the short mid haul catagory not long haul. I admit the spacing on website isnt the best, but final briefing we had last week was short haul only. The long haul flying programme has sufficient aircraft to cover for S18

So one of the longer routes with a likely higher mix of business traffic goes all economy? :eek: Really?
Also your comment above is phrased very cleverly...JFK Premium is 'available' but not all the time. As per my post above not even the JFK staff are certain which days the Premium ones appear - she thought 'around 3 p/w'.
If you want to go out PE you're not going to be happy being forced to return in economy....you'll look for another airline instead.

ANU I understand is all economy flight despite it being a 'premium island'

It's the inconsistency and the apparent lack of commercial astuteness at TCX that worries me. Needs sorting.

Completely agree, it can’t be that hard to source A330’s that the lessors will put in your own config? I assume it’s air tanker that want them in all economy? If not it’s as you say not the cleverest on tcx’s part. What baffles me more is how well received PE has been and how popular the USA flights appear to be. Surely that would tell them they need premium as standard across the fleet?

I think you will find it is very difficult to get an A330 let alone to your particular layout

Better to have premium consistently on those routes that are higher yielding rather than having it across all routes surely?

The point being that if TCX want to build a brand and a long term long-haul product, they are going to have to do much better than what they are currently doing.
The key is consistency.
All successful airlines offer a consistent product:
At one end of the scale the likes of Singapore etc deliver a reasonably consistent product
At the other end of the scale, Ryanair and Easyjet also deliver a consistent product and I admire them for that. I know exactly what I'll be getting for my money.
With TCX - it's pure guesswork.

The thing is, if you do get TCX PE across the Atlantic it's actually a very good product. Why they don't want to roll it out consistently across the long haul network is beyond me:confused:
They have the benefit of new entry players right now but I'm wondering how many people, having experienced the 'delights' of Air Tanker would come back for a second bite of the cherry.

If all of this does fall apart in the next few years, no doubt they will do the usual 'lack of premium demand' press release (ie it's all our fault).

I keep saying this on here because I've been flying business class out of MAN since 1992. It was true back then in the 1990s that there were lots of empty premium cabins but now on some flights it's actually unpredictable whether I'll get in if it's a short notice trip.

Whilst I agree consistency is important, a lot of successful airlines do not offer this in terms of seating.

The difference between an old RYR B737 and a new one with the Sky interior and slim seats is night and day. Same with easyJet between A319 with old seats and A320 with Recaro’s. I’ve flown EZY and RYR both in the last 36hrs in old interiors. Give me the new interiors and seats everytime please.

RYR is guesswork because you dont know in advance what will turn up in x weeks to operate you flight. EZY is a bit more straightforward to work out what you’ll get

Singapore have multiple different First, Business and Economy seats in operation. Both across long haul and regional products.

It would be desireable for TCX to operate PE more consistently but like a lot of other airlines nowadays, reality is you need to be savy and check the seat map before you book.

If memeory serves me right, the Air Tanker aircraft need to be kept all economy in case they are suddenly needed by the MOD for deployment.

Does anyone know the whereabouts of the Smartlynx A320 due to TCX in just over a weeks time ? Most of the YL- fleet are working for easyjet still.

The leases are ending imminentaly before they transfer to TCX for S18. Below are dates for arrival into the bases and where they are based.

YLLCO- NCL 30.04
YLLCS- CWL 30.04
YLLCT- STN 27.05
YLLCL- BRS 30.04

So based on the above...

Is Stansted to be 1x MT A321 and 1x Smart Lynx A320 for short haul ops this summer?

The A321 based at STN currently is YL-LCQ from Smartlynx, though it is in full Thomas Cook livery.

I assume then that both the A320 and A321 at STN will be Smartlynx.

Thanks for the info

STN is 1x A321 & 1x A320 from Smartlynx for S18

Is EMA a similar set up with just wet lease aircraft ?

EMA
 

EMA next month definitely showing as A321's and operated by Avion but winter is back to Thomas Cook at the moment per the booking engine?

I assume that this has resulted in the current EMA based flight-deck getting disrupted and moving to BHX or MAN for summer? Also BHX has seen only a handful of increased flights in summer 18 and the Avion is still based so not much extra work there.

So is EMA in winter crewed by BHX or MAN crew or does the base reopen?

Pete

All pilots have been permanently removed from EMA. They have not said how it will be crewed next winter.

Heard a rumour a few months ago about so bases closing in the winter.
Newcastle i heard but still shows as based aircraft and as far as i know crew have not been told anything

Winter flights to be chartered on Jet2 aircraft or seats sold onboard there aircraft

Cant see that happening at Newcastle but there was mention on here about STN BFS EMA those were the 3 bases mentioned about becomming 3rd party.

Hope so
However newcastle is only 1 aircraft in winter and doesn't fly every day

I thought MT are more likely to do the work in house but using aircraft from the larger bases using W patterns etc

M-HRG
T-TFS
W-FUE
T-ACE
F-TFS
S-TFS
S-ACE

I think the Saturday Tenerife ends for about 6 weeks other than that it flys everyday.

The TCX certainly flies as much in the winter as the other based units at NCL, probably more.

Thomas Cook at Norwich
 

i am hearing whispers that a once a week flight from Norwich to Dalaman is to be operated from Norwich this summer
Does anyone know if this will be performed by the Stansted based aircraft or another
good to see them back at Norwich
Mark

Thats what i was thinking , nothing more than rumours really.

MT590 NWI-DLM Commences 23/05 until 03/10 and is indeed on the STN based A320 operated by Smartlynx