Formerly | Airtours Group plc |
---|---|
Company type | Public |
LSE: MT-S FTSE 250 Component | |
Industry | Hospitality, tourism |
Founded | 1972 | (as Airtours Group)
Founder | David Crossland |
Defunct | 19 June 2007 |
Fate | Merged with Thomas Cook AG |
Successor | Thomas Cook Group plc |
Headquarters | Rochdale, England |
Key people | Michael Beckett (Chairman) Peter McHugh (CEO) |
Products | Charter and scheduled passenger airlines, package holidays, cruise lines, hotels and resorts |
Revenue | £2,790 million (2006) |
Number of employees | 13,000 (2006) [1] |
Parent | Thomas Cook Group (2007) |
Subsidiaries | MyTravel Tour Operations MyTravel Airways (UK) MyTravel Airways Scandinavia BCT Travel Group Direct Holidays Tjæreborg Spies Ving ALBA Tours Sunquest Vacations |
MyTravel Group plc was a British, global travel group headquartered in Rochdale, England. It was founded in 1972 as Airtours Group. The group included two in-house airlines, MyTravel Airways UK and MyTravel Airways Scandinavia, and various tour operators around the world. On 19 June 2007, the group merged with Thomas Cook AG to form the Thomas Cook Group plc.
The successor to MyTravel Group: Thomas Cook Group, entered Compulsory liquidation on 23 September 2019.
The group was founded under the Airtours brand in 1972, when David Crossland purchased a series of small travel agencies in Lancashire, United Kingdom. [2] The group began operating package holidays and launched its own in-house charter airline, in the early 1980s. [2] It offered their first charter flights to the Caribbean in 1987 for just £299. [3]
In 1994, Airtours purchased Scandinavian Leisure Group and in 1996 it bought Simon Spies Holding, a Danish rival. [4]
In 2002, Airtours Group plc, rebranded under the new company-wide banner of MyTravel Group plc. This included a name change for Airtours International and Premiair to MyTravel Airways. [5]
In November 2003, MyTravel sold off its North America Cruise Division to NLG (National Leisure Group) of Woburn, Massachusetts. [6]
On 12 February 2007, MyTravel Group plc announced that they had agreed terms on a merger with Thomas Cook AG to form Thomas Cook Group plc. [7]
Name | Country | Fate |
---|---|---|
MyTravel Tour Operations Limited | United Kingdom | Merged into Thomas Cook Tour Operations [7] |
Panorama Holiday Group Limited | United Kingdom | Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007) [7] Dissolution (2014) [8] |
BCT Travel Group Limited | United Kingdom | Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007) [7] Rebranded to Thomas Cook Scheduled Tour Operations Limited (2008) [9] Dissolution (2015) [9] |
Direct Holidays plc | United Kingdom | Dissolution (2013) [10] |
Tjæreborg | Denmark Finland | Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007) [7] |
Spies | Denmark | Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007) [7] |
Ving | Denmark Norway Sweden | Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007) [7] |
ALBA Tours | Canada | Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007) [7] |
Sunquest Vacations | Canada | Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007) [7] Sold to Red Label Vacations (2013) [11] |
Airline | Country | Image | Description | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|
MyTravel Airways Limited | United Kingdom | MyTravel Airways Limited was a British scheduled and charter airline, formerly known as Airtours International. | Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007) [7] Merged with Thomas Cook Airlines UK (2008) [7] | |
MyTravel Airways A/S | Denmark | MyTravel Airways was a Scandinavian scheduled and charter airline. | Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007) [7] Rebranded to Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia (2008) [7] |
First Choice Airways Limited was a British charter airline of European tour operator TUI Travel plc, based in Crawley, England until its merger with Thomsonfly to form Thomson Airways in 2008. It flew to more than 60 destinations worldwide from 14 UK and Irish airports. 70% of the airline's services were operated for its parent company, rising to 85% in the summer season, with the remainder on behalf of some 120 other tour operators. It also operated scheduled year-round leisure routes to Cyprus and the resorts of Spain and Portugal.
Thomas Cook Airlines Limited was a British charter and scheduled airline headquartered in Manchester, England. It was founded in 2007 from the merger of Thomas Cook Group and MyTravel Group, and was part of the Thomas Cook Group Airlines. It served leisure destinations worldwide from its main bases at Manchester Airport and Gatwick Airport on a scheduled and charter basis. It also operated services from eight other bases around the United Kingdom. Thomas Cook Group and all UK entities including Thomas Cook Airlines entered compulsory liquidation on 23 September 2019.
Thomsonfly was a British charter and scheduled airline. Thomsonfly was the first stage of TUI AG's plans to expand its business within TUI UK prior to September 2007. After TUI UK merged with First Choice Holidays in September 2007, it became part of TUI Travel PLC. The new holiday company continued with both in-house airlines through winter 2007 and summer 2008 until the two were merged on 1 November 2008 as Thomson Airways.
Britannia Airways was a charter airline based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1961 as Euravia and became the world's largest holiday airline. Britannia's main bases were at London Gatwick, London Stansted, London Luton, Cardiff, Bristol, East Midlands, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, and Glasgow. It had its headquarters at Britannia House in Luton.
British Airtours was a charter airline in the United Kingdom with flight operations out of London Gatwick and Manchester Airports.
TUI AG is a German multinational leisure, travel and tourism company; it is the largest such company in the world. TUI is an acronym for Touristik Union International. TUI AG was known as Preussag AG until 1997 when the company changed its activities from mining to tourism. It is headquartered in Hanover, Germany, and trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Hanover Stock Exchange.
MyTravel Airways Limited was a British scheduled and charter airline with headquarters in Manchester, England. It operated worldwide holiday charter services mainly for its parent company, the MyTravel Group. The airline merged with Thomas Cook Airlines UK Limited in 2008 and was renamed Thomas Cook Airlines Limited.
Thomas Cook AG was an Anglo-German, global travel group. The group had its headquarters in Rochdale, and sold products such as package holidays and flights through its 3 in-house airlines. On 19 June 2007, the group merged with MyTravel Group plc to form the Thomas Cook Group plc, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
First Choice Holidays Limited is a British online travel agency and tour operator, headquartered in Luton, England. It is a subsidiary of TUI UK, itself a subsidiary of TUI Group, and its holidays are sold solely online. It also operates own brand hotels.
Thomas Cook & Son, originally simply Thomas Cook, was a company founded by Thomas Cook, a cabinet-maker, in 1841 to carry temperance supporters by railway between the cities of Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham. In 1851, Cook arranged transport to the Great Exhibition of 1851. He organised his first tours to Europe in 1855 and to the United States in 1866.
Vacation Express is a tour operator based in Atlanta, Georgia. The company was founded in 1989. Vacation Express was purchased by Sunwing Travel Group in 2011 for an undisclosed sum. The company has sold over two million vacation packages.
The XL Leisure Group (XLLG) was a major tour operating company in the UK, consisting of charter and scheduled airlines, holiday companies and flight-only tour operators. It also had operations in France, Germany, Ireland, Australia and Cyprus. The group's UK companies were placed into administration on 12 September 2008.
Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — and MyTravel Group until 23 September 2019, when it went into compulsory liquidation. The group operated as a tour operator and airline, and also operated travel agencies in Europe. At the time of the group's collapse, approximately 21,000 worldwide employees were left without jobs and 600,000 customers were left abroad, triggering the UK's largest peacetime repatriation.
Flying Colours was a charter airline in the United Kingdom that operated from 1996 until 2000.
Travel City Direct was a brand owned by Virgin Holidays. It was previously the trading name of the Really Great Holiday Company PLC, a British holiday company based in Crawley, specialising in holidays to the United States. The company was part of the third largest tour operator in the United Kingdom, the XL Leisure Group and was the UK's largest direct sell tour operator to Florida.
TUI Airways Limited is the British arm of the TUI Airline group, which is owned and operated by the TUI Group. They offer scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.
Caledonian Airways was a charter airline in the United Kingdom established in 1988 by rebranding British Airtours when that company's parent British Airways took over British Caledonian. It merged in 2000 with Flying Colours Airlines to form JMC Air.
TUI Travel PLC was a British leisure travel group headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex. The company was formed on 3 September 2007 by the merger of First Choice Holidays PLC and the Tourism Division of TUI AG, which owned 56.4% of it. The company operated in 180 countries and claimed 30 million customers.
Sunclass Airlines A/S is a Danish charter airline that operates charter services from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The company is affiliated with Ving Group, a Nordic tour operator. It was, together with Ving Group, a part of Thomas Cook Group until 23 December 2019 when Norwegian investor Petter Stordalen and Strawberry Group rebranded the company as Sunclass Airlines.
Thomas Cook Tourism (UK) Company Limited, known as Thomas Cook UK, is a British package holiday provider which offers 'Flight + Hotel' packages and Hotel only bookings. The company was launched in 2019, when Chinese firm Fosun International purchased the brand from the insolvent Thomas Cook Group, and began trading in September 2020.