Thomas Cook Group Airlines has signed a deal with Transat A T inc, the owner of Air Transat, to exchange aircraft on a seasonal basis.
Under the terms of the seven-year agreement, Thomas Cook will make available a number of narrow body Airbus A321s to Air Transat each winter and will receive at least one wide-body Airbus A330-200 in return.
This will enable both companies to manage and utilise their fleets more efficiently.
The agreement takes advantage of the different seasonality of the two companies as Air Transat uses a greater number of smaller aircraft in winter to serve its destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida, and larger aircraft in summer to serve the transatlantic market.
In contrast, Thomas Cook uses smaller aircraft in summertime to fly to destinations around the Mediterranean Sea and larger wide-body aircraft in the winter to fly to the long-haul destinations like Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
Thomas Cook Group chief airline officer Christoph Debus said: "The new partnership provides additional growth opportunities for our airline, and again demonstrates how Thomas Cook Group is transforming through partnerships.
"By taking advantage of the complementary seasonal demand in North America and Europe, we will be able to operate additional long-haul flights during winter and better balance the seasonal demand for our short and medium-haul aircraft, resulting in more cost efficiency and choice for our customers."
