Thomas Cook secures aircraft financing

Thomas Cook Group is pleased to announce further progress with its fleet renewal programme as part of its on-going commitment to building a single, strengthened airline segment aimed at improving the customer experience and reducing CO2 emissions and fuel burn as part of its focus on environmental sustainability.

GECAS has agreed to acquire six A321-200s directly from Airbus, further to a purchase agreement between Thomas Cook and Airbus dated 25 January 2011, and Thomas Cook will lease back those aircraft from GECAS at an average lease rate factor of 0.887 per cent. per month.

It is anticipated that four of the aircraft will be delivered to Thomas Cook in the first quarter of FY 2015, with the remaining two expected to be delivered in the second quarter of FY 2015.

The agreement announced today represents the latest stage of the fleet renewal programme for Thomas Cook’s airline segment, which recently announced the bringing together of its four airlines TCX (UK), TC Belgium, Condor (Germany) and TC A/S (Scandinavia) into one segment as part of its on-going efficiency drive; to maximise purchasing power, reduce duplicative cost and improve the customer experience.

Christoph Debus, Group Head of Air Travel for Thomas Cook said:
“These commitments, as part of the renewal of our narrow body fleet, represent significant further progress as we continue to invest in the future of our business and work with our key partners to deliver a holiday experience in line with what our customers expect from a market leader such as the Thomas Cook Group”.