Is our Thomas Cook flight still a safe bet for summer?

Q We have a flight booked in July with Thomas Cook Airlines but my husband is worried about all the stories relating to its troubles. Can you comment on potential issues and problems and where we would stand?

Debra H

A When you refer to “its troubles”, I imagine you mean the Thomas Cook Group as a whole rather than the airline part of the business. In its trading statement earlier this month it said “bookings for summer 2019 reflect some consumer uncertainty, particularly in the UK”. It has cut capacity to “mitigate risk”. While the Anglo-German organisation continues to trade normally, Thomas Cook’s market capitalisation has fallen 80 per cent from a high in early summer 2018.

I would have no hesitation in booking a Thomas Cook holiday with confidence that it would go ahead. The airline, which is a distinctly profitable part of the business, is extremely secure.

While smaller carriers, most recently Flybmi, have fallen by the wayside, Thomas Cook Airlines continues to prosper. It has a profitable mix of flying the firm’s package-holiday passengers, carrying travellers for other tour operators and selling “seat-only” tickets.

The firm is undertaking a “strategic review” of Thomas Cook Airlines, which basically means trying to sell it. But unlike some of the carriers that have collapsed recently, such as Flybmi, the airline is performing well. Thomas Cook simply wants to extract as much value as possible from its in-house airline to reduce corporate debt.

In the event of a sale, existing flight plans – including yours – are most unlikely to change.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder