History

The airline began operations in the summer of 1996 with a fleet of Boeing 757-200

Boeing 757

The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...

 & Airbus A320

Airbus A320

The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...

 aircraft.

Flying Colours had several operational bases outside of its Manchester Airport headquarters, including London Gatwick Airport

London Gatwick Airport

Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...

 and Glasgow International Airport

Glasgow International Airport

Glasgow International Airport is an international airport in Scotland, located west of Glasgow city centre, near the towns of Paisley and Renfrew in Renfrewshire...

. The airline quickly established a positive reputation in the charter industry, with a fleet of newly-built aircraft and new features; Flying Colours were the first airline in the UK to have LCD TV screens in the cabins of their 757s.

In 1998 the tour operator Thomas Cook Group

Thomas Cook Group

Thomas Cook Group plc is a travel company created on 19 June, 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc. At flotation on the London Stock Exchange 52% of the shares in the new company were held by the German mail order and department store corporation Arcandor and 48% owned by...

 acquired Flying Colours Leisure Group .

Subsequently the in-house charter airline of Thomas Cook, Airworld

Airworld

Airworld Aviation Ltd began operations in 1994. It was the in-house charter airline for the travel agent Thomas Cook Group. The airline was the first British operator of the Airbus A321...

, adopted the Flying Colours Airlines brand . Shortly after the takeover two ex-Airworld Airbus A321

Airbus A320

The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...

s were returned to their lessor. The airline also maintained the Airworld operating base at Bristol.

In 1999 Thomas Cook completed the acquisition of Carlson Leisure Group

Carlson Companies

Carlson is a privately held international corporation in the hotel, restaurant, and travel industries. Headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, near Minneapolis, Carlson brands and services, including franchised operations, employ more than 170,000 people in more than 150 countries and territories...

, who operated the charter carriers Caledonian Airways

Caledonian Airways (1988)

Caledonian Airways was a United Kingdom charter airline that operated for twelve years between 1988 and 2000.-History:Caledonian Airways was formed in 1988 when British Airways acquired British Caledonian...

 and Peach Air

Peach Air

Peach Air was a United Kingdom charter airline that operated for two years between 1997 and 1998.-History:Peach Air was formed in 1996. It was part of Caledonian Airways , created to operate for the tour operator Goldcrest....

. This led to a complete rebrand by Thomas Cook of its growing tour operation. In 2000, Thomas Cook rebranded their charter airline operations as JMC Air

JMC Air

JMC Air Services also known as JMC Air, JMC Airlines or simply JMC, was a UK charter airline formed by the merger of Caledonian Airways and Flying Colours Airlines following the purchase of Thomas Cook Group by the Carlson Leisure Group. JMC Air was named after the initials of the son of Thomas...

, part of a new universal customer-facing brand, "JMC".

Flying Colours ordered two Airbus A330-200

Airbus A330

The Airbus A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a division of EADS. Versions of the A330 have a range of and can accommodate up to 335 passengers in a two-class layout or carry of cargo....

 aircraft to begin longhaul operations, these aircraft arrived after the JMC rebrand.

JMC Air was rebranded as Thomas Cook Airlines

Thomas Cook Airlines

Thomas Cook Airlines is a British charter airline based in Manchester, England. It serves main holiday resorts worldwide, from its main bases at Manchester and Gatwick.The airline also operates services from nine other bases in the United Kingdom....

 in 2002. Thomas Cook Airlines UK have announced a merger with fellow Manchester-founded airline MyTravel Airways

MyTravel Airways

MyTravel Airways was a United Kingdom scheduled and charter airline with headquarters in Manchester, England. It operated worldwide holiday charter services mainly for its parent company, the MyTravel Group....

; the parent companies were scheduled to merge in June 2007 with the two airlines merging in November 2007.

Trivia

• The buttons on the cabin crew uniform were Yellow, Blue & Red. This earned the airline the nickname "Flying Buttons".
• For a short time the airline operated from Manchester Airport Terminal 2 before migrating over to Terminal 1 where Thomas Cook UK still operate from today.