Thomas Cook is talking to budget carrier easyJet about taking allocations of seats from the budget carrier next summer.
The deal, which the travel giant described as imminent, is thought to cover around 80,000 seats, representing 3% of Cook’s capacity.
Cook has regularly sourced airline capacity through third party carriers such as Monarch but this is the first time easyJet is thought to have sold seats wholesale to another company.
The tie-up would allow Cook to offer greater flexibility on the length of package holidays it sells.
The development emerged as former Premier Farnell boss Harriet Green leads a top to bottom review of the Cook business to secure a turnaround in its fortunes to cut its £1 billion in debts. The results are not expected until next year.
Cook has so far sold part of its aircraft fleet, five Spanish hotels and a stake in its Indian arm.
Lowcosttravelgroup is the outsourced provider of easyJet Holidays to provide dynamic packages via the budget airline’s website.