Thomas Cook Airlines’ first ever turn-of-year peaks period sales push starts today (Boxing Day) and runs until the end of February.
The two-part campaign kicks off with advertising in regional press, radio, digital shopping centre and commuter-area outdoor posters in the Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds areas focused on long haul routes to the US from Manchester airport.
The second stage is a nationwide online initiative through a series of sales, limited offers and promotions to encourage bookings on short haul and medium haul routes, including email marketing, online and social media advertising.
The social media campaign launches on Facebook and on thomascookairlines.com – using the #FlyWhereYouLove hashtag.
It will encourage followers to upload a ‘heart hands’ picture, showing a destination they love from their holiday photos, to enter a prize draw to win a pair of flights each week.
The airline is to lease a further 314-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft previously flown by Avianca Airlines to join the feet in June after being refurbished.
This will bring the fleet up to seven A330s, with five in Manchester, also serving Belfast and Cardiff; one in Gatwick and one serving the US and Mexico from Glasgow and Stansted.
The carrier will fly to New York JFK three times a week and Miami twice a week from Manchester from May 2015.
New flights also include summer services from Stansted to Orlando, Cancun and Las Vegas as well as a new weekly service from Glasgow to Las Vegas. Belfast will gain three summer flights to Orlando and Las Vegas.
Thomas Cook Group chief air travel officer Christoph Debus said: “We have some great flight-only offers available now – including some amazing prices to Miami and New York – these are great offers for families too following the abolition on economy APD for the under 12’s for next summer.”
He added: “The increase in long haul aircraft will ensure customers have a broader range of destinations and frequencies to choose from when looking for flights further afield, helping our customers take advantage of the abolition of APD for the under 12’s from next May.
“We’ve added a range of new routes to our schedule, as well as more frequencies to the most popular destinations meaning we can offer even more options – with flights in comfort on our brand new cabins with our brand new long haul service for both economy and premium customers.”