Terminates Agreement With Jazz Aviation For Flights In Canada

Jazz Aviation said Thursday that it has received notification from Thomas Cook Canada Inc. ("Thomas Cook") of its intention to discontinue operating dedicated charter aircraft, branded as Thomas Cook Canada, due to market conditions.  As a consequence, the remaining three years of the five-year flight services agreement with Jazz will be terminated effective April 30, 2012.

"A change in market dynamics means that we need to introduce more flexible flying arrangements; the consequence of that is the decision to discontinue our dedicated fleet of 757 aircraft.  The Jazz team did a great job in operating our Thomas Cook Canada flights and we thank them for the expertise, guidance and support they provided during the last two years," said Dean Moore, Chief Executive Officer of Thomas Cook North America.

In 2010, Jazz signed a five-year flight services agreement with Thomas Cook to operate a dedicated charter fleet of six Boeing 757-200 aircraft to various sun destinations from Canadian gateways during the winter season. "We are very disappointed that the current market conditions require Thomas Cook to restructure its operations," said Joseph Randell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jazz. "We enjoyed working with the Thomas Cook team and our employees can be proud of the solid operational performance and customer service they delivered."

Jazz will continue to operate the Thomas Cook Canada flights, as scheduled, for the remainder of the winter 2011-2012 program and proceed with the normal seasonal wind down of this operation by April 28, 2012. As the majority of Thomas Cook flying block hours planned for the year 2012 will be completed by April 28, 2012, there will be no change to Jazz's billable block-hour guidance for the year ended December 31, 2012 of between 385,000 and 400,000.

Jazz and Thomas Cook have reached a commercial settlement in respect of the termination of the flight services agreement, the economic terms of which reflect the original and intended expiration of the agreement, regarding the recovery of certain initial start-up costs and foregone revenues.  The details of this settlement are confidential under its terms.

FMI: www.flyjazz.ca