Signs look good for Turkey

Thomas Cook is confident it will not have to reduce Turkey capacity any further due to the Bird Flu outbreak.

The operator still has the largest operator capacity to Turkey despite shifting some capacity to Spain, Cyprus and Greece earlier in the year.

However, chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa said sales to the country had “picked up over the last couple weeks”.

“Thank goodness we reduced the capacity when we did because we have by far the biggest programme to Turkey,” he said.

“We have reduced our guarantees so were able to reduce capacity by moving to Spain where demand has come back. However, now there are signs the Turkey market might be coming back.”

Thomson has cut capacity to Turkey by a fifth down to last year’s level but both operators say the situation is being monitored with the possibility that capacity may be put back if bookings pick up.