Thomas Cook Again?

u’ve summed it up in one mike – 10 years ago scheduled air travel in the UK was for the higher class – charter for the masses, lo-co none existant

Originally posted by EGNM
well to be fair, the magazines main catchment area is the UK, and as i’m sure a lot of us started off as kids the only flights we took were off charter airlines – it brings accross an interest and a cover article to attract first time buyers

Might it be true to go one further and suggest that thers is a strong leaning towards the charter airlines in Britain because these are, for many many people, the only ones with which they ever fly?

Distances are shorter in Britain than in the USA, and rail and road become much more viable alternatives than across the pond between major cities.

Although business and vfr travel across Europe is mushrooming, I suspect that the only european journey for the majority of Brits is the annual package holiday. I don’t have any figures to prove / disprove this though.

I would expect the net result of this to be that Britannia, Thomas Cook, MyTravel, Monarch, Air 2000 and the others are most Brits’ only exposure to airlines.

At the same time it is likely that easyJet, RyanAir and their low cost family are changing this fairly quickly.

Any thoughts / opinions?

Mike

Conversely, the US magazines available over here cater mainly for a US readership and also cost more to buy.

There’s nothing wrong with that, I actually prefer to read about the US airline industry in a US mag and the UK/Europe in a UK mag as it’s often written more informatively by local journalists. That said, I also enjoy the international correspondence such as from our forum regular Kabir.

As for the Thomas Cook article… Yes it does seem a little odd to have another feature so soon after the JMC cover story ? That’s one for the editorial team to sort out I suspect, rarther than it being a case of them pandering to a perceived strong interest in charter lines from the UK readership.

Maybe they intended it to be a two parter but forget to tell us. Or perhaps something else fell through at the last minute forcing them to find another feature right at the print deadline ? Stranger things have happened.

well to be fair, the magazines main catchment area is the UK, and as i’m sure a lot of us started off as kids the only flights we took were off charter airlines – it brings accross an interest and a cover article to attract first time buyers

In the past I’ve felt this forum to, at times, be very pro UK-charter minded, and that’s it. I haven’t gotten that impression for a while, however, which is good. I really never felt airlinerworld to be “pro-charter,” per se. Maybe it’s because my subscription ended about a year ago and I didn’t renew. Since then, I’ve only picked up a copy here and there. But yes, it is very expensive for those of us in N. America as Mapleleaf indicated. I’ve always felt to be worth it.

AFAIK with eighty something aircraft we are now supposed to be the biggest charter operation in the world. You may well have seen 320s, 330s, 757s and 767s in Canada and the US as well. Now the changeover has been made I expect the mag will calm down a bit.