First Choice (travel firm)

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First Choice PLC

• revenue £2.7 billion GBP (2006)
• employees 15.000 Full Time
• parent First Choice PLC
• company slogan Where leisure travels further
• founded 1973
• headquarters Crawley, United Kingdom
• key people Sir Michael Hodgkinson (Chaiman), Peter Long (CEO), Paul Bowtell (Group finance director)
• website http://www.firstchoiceplc.com|}}

First Choice is a brand name used by First Choice Holidays PLC to sell package holidays in the United Kingdom. The brand is also the name of a chain of travel agents that are part of the same group. It is the fourth largest tour operator in the United Kingdom and bought out Air 2000 in the early 2000s which is now First Choice Airways.

Its closest opponents are Thomson Holidays, MyTravel Group PLC andThomas Cook AG.

The package holidays offered by First Choice include European sun holdays, ski/activity holidays, worldwide holidays, family orientated holidays and cruises.

First Choice's package holiday division has over 300 high street branches and provides holidays for around 2.5 million customers per year.

First Choice Holidays PLC and TUI AG announced that the First Choice and Thomson Holidays will merge and create one of the worlds biggest leisure comnpanies. The new UK based company will trade as TUI Travel PLC and will be listed on the London Stock Exchange.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Innovation

In 2009 First Choice Airways will receive its first B787-8 aircraft. Each B787-8 will replace a B767-300 on long haul routes as they are delivered. The deliveries are expected to take around 2 years.

The airline was the first in the UK to use the Boeing 777-style interior on their 767 fleet. The first aircraft in service was G-OOBK followed by a further three refurbishments. By January 2006 all 4 of the Phase 1 aircraft were in service. The company now has a total of 6 aircraft flying long haul in 2007.

[edit] Branding

First Choice has the following sub brands:

• First Choice Holidays
• First Choice Holidays Hypermarkets
• First Choice Airways
• First Choice Travel Shops
• First Choice Worldwide flights
• First Choice car hire
• First Choice Extras
• First Choice Ski

other branding within the First Choice Group;

• Sovereign
• Hays and Jarvis
• Meon Villas
• Unijet
• Sunsail
• Citalia
• Falcon
• Island Cruises
• Eclipse Direct
• Hotelopia
• LateRooms

and many more global travel brands

• Flexi Ski

See also: First Choice Airways

[edit] External links

• First Choice Plc coorporate website
• First Choice Holidays website
• First Choice Airways website
• First Choice Ski website