Thomas Cook will probably meet its forecasts for this fiscal year and is well positioned to achieve them for the 2010 financial year after revealing strong summer trading with a flurry of late bookings - particularly for breaks in Turkey and Egypt.

Thomas Cook sold 96% of its summer holidays, in line with 2008, while sales for the forthcoming winter season have also improved since August. Earlier this week rival TUI Travel, highlighted the same trend for later bookings.

Thomas Cook is reducing the number of winter flights and vacation packages to avoid discounting in the recession. Continental European summer bookings had declined 12 percent from a year earlier.

“We’re in good shape; we are trading ahead of our capacity,” Thomas Cook CEO Manny Fontenla-Novoa told reporters. “Although bookings are coming in late, they are coming in”. He said it was on course to achieve expectations for full-year profits.