Airline closures 2019 : Thomas Cook stole the headlines

Although most articles focus on Thomas Cook the travel company a large part of their business is Thomas Cook the airline. Airline closures in 2019 have been big news.

Which airlines have been casualties so far

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• Germania
• California Pacific
• Flybmi
• Insel Air
• Asian Express Airline
• WOW
• Aerolineas de Antioquia
• Fly Jamaica Airways
• Air Philip
• Jet Airways
• Wisdom Airways
• Avianca Brasil
• Avianca Argentina
• Al Naser Wings Airlines
• Aigle Azur
• XL Airways
• Thomas Cook
• Adria

If you want to see an updated list then Allplane TV have a good resource page for this.

Condor avoided being a casualty with the German government stepping in to fund the operation. Keeping them afloat in the short term much to the anger of Thomas Cook UK staff.

Airline closures affect cargo

From a cargo perspective the biggest airline closure in 2019 was Jet Airways. An airline which promised so much in terms of international flights to India. Ultimately though it was debt and cash flow which took the airline down. Unable to service the debt the banks closed on them.

The question the airline industry has to ask is the race to be a no-frills cheap carrier, is it worth it. The Red-tops highlighted the profiteering by airlines and travel agencies on the day of the Thomas Cook collapse but in reality they were just acting commercially as all airlines do. Surge-pricing isn’t a new phenomenon and has been around for a while in the air cargo industry.

We saw a rise in air cargo prices for the South Eastern USA as Thomas Cook’s flights into Miami and Orlando with onward trucking connections disappeared but is that a bad thing. Other scheduled carriers to the region have complained for years that during the summer months the rates are artificially lowered by charter airlines serving the tourism industry and supplementing their flights with low-cost cargo.

Thomas Cook Airlines will not be the last airline to close it’s doors in 2019. Airline closures are here to stay whilst the aim is to chase the cheapest passenger. In 2018 we had 19 airline closures, a figure now matched in 2019 with a full 3 months left to go.