Press Release: Airtours plc
February 8, 2002
MyTravel.com a major success in advance of marketing spend, more than 27,000 bookings taken.
Commenting on the trading position and on David Crossland's decision to retire, Tim Byrne, Chief Executive of Airtours
plc, said: "As we said when we reported last year's results in November, growth this year will be challenging.
The trading conditions we have seen since then give us no reason to change our view at this time. The improvement
in summer bookings seen since Christmas was as expected. We continue to actively manage our capacity in response
to the trends in customer demand, particularly as further market research we have carried out suggests that customers,
in all markets, will book their holidays later this year.
As a consequence of a poor first quarter following 11 September, we will see significantly increased losses for
the first half of this financial year. Whilst it is still early in the booking cycle, we believe supply and demand
will be in line in our major markets and we continue to be cautiously optimistic for the full year. The actions
we have taken in respect of overhead costs and the continued improvement of markets suggest a very positive outlook
thereafter. In addition, we are very pleased with the response of our customers to the launch of the MyTravel.com
website and the opening of the initial wave of MyTravel stores.
The success of the Group and its strength are a testament to David Crossland's skills as a tour operator and as
an inspiration to his management team. Under David's Chairmanship, I have, as Chief Executive, had his full support
in developing the business further. I thank David for this and look forward to his continued support until his
retirement in November. I am confident that this team, under my leadership, will continue the tradition of profitable
growth that David has established."
David Crossland said: "I have been in the travel industry for 40 years, I purchased the Company over 30 years
ago and have been Chairman of Airtours plc for the past 15 years. I believe it is now the right time to hand over
to both Tim Byrne and Eric Sanderson.
Our Group is in great shape having just delivered record profits last year and I'm pleased to confirm that I have
no current intention of reducing my existing shareholding in the Company to any material extent.
We started to deal with my planned succession by splitting the role of Chairman and CEO 15 months ago. Tim Byrne,
who was appointed Chief Executive in November 2000 has built what I believe is the best management team in travel
anywhere in the world. Eric Sanderson will become the non-executive Chairman in November. He knows the Group and
our industry very well, has great experience and, I believe, will make an outstanding Chairman.
It goes without saying that I will be sad to leave both the Group and the travel industry, but I am immensely proud
of what all of us who work for Airtours plc have achieved. Our most important successes have been to take the number
of people employed from 2 in 1972 to 27,000 today and profits from £2,000 in 1972 to £147m last year.
But we've only just begun. Travel is a growth industry. In Europe alone, the number of package holidays sold has
increased from 25 million in 1990 to 60 million in 2000 and is expected to rise to 100 million in 2010. We are
in an ideal position being one of the most profitable travel businesses in the world. Our philosophy is very simple,
we aim to be the best holiday Group to travel with, to work for and to invest in. We have great people and great
technology and I am convinced that the future is going to be even more exciting than the past."
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Produced for Airtours plc For further information contact:
Fiona Antcliffe Brunswick +44 207 404 5959 bszafranski@pcipr.com