Virgin to make Manchester a hub
Ben Ireland Tel Aviv
Virgin Atlantic is ploting to turn Manchester airport into a hub with plans to add more long-haul routes next year. Te airline said the demise of
Tomas Cook and Virgin’s recent acquisition of regional carrier Flybe presented a huge opportunity for Virgin at the northern base. Flybe – to be renamed Virgin
Connect next year – has more than 300 slots at Manchester flying domestic routes that will be able
to feed new long-haul capacity. Juha Järvinen, Virgin’s European
vice-president for commercial, told Travel Weekly: “We hope to be able to further strengthen our offering for next year [from Manchester]. “We will be offering more flights
to [current] destinations for next winter and we are definitely exploring new destinations from Manchester. “Tat was originally our plan, but
Tomas Cook’s demise gives us an opportunity. Manchester is definitely our second home and is a region that is underserved both in business and leisure [routes].
We will be offering
more flights next winter and exploring new destinations
“We can build a network hub in
Manchester that nobody has done before. When we welcome Flybe into the Virgin family, it [will be] easier.” Chief executive Shai Weiss added:
“Watch our space in terms of what we will announce following the demise of iconic British brand Tomas Cook.” Weiss predicted Virgin Atlantic –
which lost £26 million last year and £49 million in 2017 – would return to profitability in 2021. Virgin Atlantic has called for a
review of slot allocation at Heathrow as it bids to become Britain’s “second flag-carrier” by flying to 84 destinations when the airport’s proposed third runway opens. Heathrow chief executive John
Holland-Kaye appeared to back the calls when, aſter meeting Weiss and Sir Richard Branson last week, he told Bloomberg: “We need a scale
player that can compete with BA.” i Comment, page 18
Tui and Jet2 tipped to apply for bigger Atols
Amie Keeley
‘Big two’ operators Tui and Jet2holidays could apply to increase their Atol licences following the collapse of Tomas Cook. In the latest round of Atol
renewals, Tui’s licence went down by just over 120,000 from 5.68 million to 5.56 million, while Jet2holidays’ Atol grew by just over 100,000 from 3.8 million to 3.9 million. Teir Atol renewal applications
preceded the collapse of Tomas Cook in September. Since its failure, Tui and
Jet2.com
have announced major flight capacity increases for next year.
4 31 OCTOBER 2019 Tui has hiked summer 2020
capacity by two million seats and
Jet2.com has added hundreds of thousands of seats for this winter and next summer. Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the
Association of Atol Companies, said: “Operators would have got applications in early [in July] but I’d have thought aſter Cook failed they would have increased them. “I expect there will be variations
made (to Atol licences). “Tui has announced it is adding
more than two million seats and it’s not keen on flight-only. But Jet2 may sell more seat-only.” A Tui spokeswoman confirmed
top-10 atol-holders Tui
Jet2holidays On the Beach
Oct 19 Oct 18 Change 5,555,145 5,678,163 -2.2%
3,915,000 3,810,320 2.7% 1,646,800
We Love Holidays* 1,374,812 BA Holidays Expedia easyJet
BravoNext** Travel Republic Virgin Holidays
N/A: renewed in April N/A: renewed in April
1,010,148 939,802 7.5% 874,208 1,178,450 -25.8% 793,874 705,020 12.6% 640,555 568,096 12.8% 555,060 554,102 0.2% 377,712
N/A: renewed in April *Loveholidays **
lastminute.com
to Travel Weekly the company would be contacting the CAA about its intention to increase its Atol licence. Te CAA published a list of the
top 10 Atol-holders this week aſter the deadline for September renewals was extended by almost a month following Tomas Cook’s collapse. Tui and Jet2holidays retain the
top-two slots, while On the Beach rises to fill the third spot previously claimed by Tomas Cook. Virgin Holidays has moved into
the top 10 with a licence to carry 378,000 passengers over the next 12 months. Expedia has reduced its licence by 304,000, or almost 26%. EasyJet has hiked its licensed
capacity by 89,000 seats, a 12.6% increase on a year ago. Te CAA said there are now 1,283
licensed Atol-holders, compared with 1,296 in September 2018. Tomas Cook had been licensed to carry 2.47 million passengers.
travelweekly.co.uk
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