With the summer season holiday flying programme underway, Thomas Cook Airlines has welcomed the arrival of a brand new Airbus A321 aircraft.

Fitted out in the airline’s new Sunny Heart livery - registration G-TCDG - the plane was offered the traditional water cannon salute on departure from Stansted to Antalya, Turkey earlier.

Christoph Debus, Thomas Cook Airline chief executive, said, “It is great news for our customers departing from London Stansted Airport this summer as we celebrate the addition of one of our new aircraft as we grow our presence at the airport.

“With more flights, more holidays and a more frequent service to the most popular resorts, those holidaymakers in the east and south-east of England looking to travel to more destinations from their local airport can now experience our brand new aircraft and increased comfort during their flight.”

Last year, Thomas Cook Airlines announced that from this June it will operate two aircraft from Stansted – using the larger Airbus A321 replacing the existing A320 – bringing an increased amount of flights and holidays to a range of new destinations.

Stansted Airport managing director, Andrew Harrison, said, “Thomas Cook Airlines are a very important partner at Stansted Airport and the introduction of the new larger A321 aircraft into service and launch of eight new routes is fantastic news for passengers across London, eastern Region and wider south-east. 

“Equally exciting is recent news that long-haul flights to Orlando, Cancun and Las Vegas will be introduced by the airline next year.

“Thomas Cook Airlines clearly recognise the untapped potential at Stansted and we look forward to giving them our full support as they grow their route network here.” 

The additional and larger aircraft means that a range of new destinations are now within reach of holidaymakers travelling from Stansted, including new Thomas Cook destinations of Corfu, Fuerteventura, Heraklion, Izmir, Kefalonia, Kos, Rhodes and - brand new to Stansted - Skiathos – as well as increased frequency to popular resorts.