Thomas Cook confident of meeting expectations

Thomas Cook, in which Arcandor has a 53 per cent stake, said winter 2008/9 bookings had improved significantly in the last four weeks, particularly in continental and northern Europe.

Along with its main rival TUI Travel, Thomas Cook has responded to the recession by reducing the amount of holidays it has on sale, enabling it to increase average selling prices and avoid discounting heavily in the late bookings market.

Bookings for winter 2008/9 are down seven per cent overall but up 12 per cent over the past four weeks. The group had planned to take out five per cent of capacity. Average selling prices are up four per cent on last year and load factors on departed flights remain at least at last year's levels, the group said.

For summer, Thomas Cook said bookings remain behind the prior year but had also strengthened over the last four weeks.