This article contains historical information about My Travel until its merger with Thomas Cook AG - for the new company see - Thomas Cook Group
| Former type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Transport (Package Holiday Group) |
| Fate | Merger with Thomas Cook AG |
| Successor | Thomas Cook Group plc |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Defunct | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Rochdale, England, UK |
| Key people | Michael Beckett (Chairman), Peter McHugh (CEO), John Allkins (Finance Director), John Bloodworth (Managing Director UK), Sam Weihagen (N Europe), Michael Friisdahl (Canada), Greg McMahon (Group Secretary), Steven Olivant (Communications), James Jennings (Strategy), Bill McQueen (HR) |
| Products | Passenger transport |
| Revenue | £2.79 billion GBP (2006) |
| Employees | 14,600 Full Time |
MyTravel Group PLC was a package holiday company based in the United Kingdom. The group included brands such as Airtours, Aspro, Cresta, Direct Holidays, Escapades, Manos and Panorama in the UK,*Sunquest Vacations and *ALBA Tours in North America, and Ving, Always, Tjæreborg, Spies, Skibby, MyTravel Tango, Bridge and Saga Solreiser in Scandinavia. The company included an in-house airline, MyTravel Airways, however, following the merger of MyTravel and Thomas Cook AG on 19 June 2007, these brands passed to the new combined Thomas Cook Group plc.
The Group was a FTSE 250 Listed Company with a retail estate of over 700 shops and a total ownership of 31 aircraft, 81 hotels and resorts, 14,600 employees and a customer base of over 5.7 million people worldwide. MyTravel Group PLC had an estimated market capitalization of over £1.43 Billion GBP.
The group was founded under the Airtours brand in 1972, when David Crossland purchased a series of small travel agencies in Lancashire, United Kingdom. The group began operating package holidays and launched its own in-house charter airline, in the early 1980s.
During the 1990s, Airtours purchased Scandinavian Leisure Group (SLG) including award winning tour operators such as Ving and airline; Premiair.
In 2002, Airtours Group plc, re branded under the new company wide banner of MyTravel Group plc. This included a name change for Airtours International and Premiair to MyTravel Airways. Shops throughout Northern Europe were rebranded to MyTravel however UK retail outlets remained under the banner of Going Places due to the immense brand awareness and popularity - a brand that continually wins the accolade of ‘UK’s Favourite Travel Agent’ as voted for by Daily Mail readers. In November 2003, MyTravel sold off its North America Cruise Division to NLG (National Leisure Group) of Woburn, MA. The company ran into financial difficulties in 2004 and needed to implement a debt-for-equity swap in order to complete implementation of a group restructure.
In 2004 and 2005, MyTravel took 5.7 million people on holiday of which 3.4 million were from the UK, 1.5 million from Northern Europe and 0.8 million from North America.
On 12 February 2007, MyTravel Group plc announced that they had agreed terms on a merger with Thomas Cook AG. The merger was given shareholder approval at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 29 May 2007. The parent company of the enlarged group is named Thomas Cook Group plc with its headquarters in the UK and listed in London.[1]
Merger Of MyTravel Group plc And Thomas Cook AG To Create A Leading International Leisure Travel Company
MyTravel Group PLC Announces Results For Year End To 31 October 2006 With An Profit Of £43.8m