Airtours Airlines
The Airtours Airlines are one of the UK's largest integrated tour operators and travel agents. Airtours Airlines employs over 1,300 people in the UK and over 830 people, established in 52 of the worlds' most popular summer and winter holiday destinations. Airtours Holidays are part of the MyTravel Group PLC, a UK based tour operator in addition to a number of famous brands like Aspro, Cresta, Direct Holidays, Escapades, Manos and Panorama.
The Airtours Airlines has been developing rapidly in the late 1990s, achieving leading tour and travel positions in the German, Dutch, Scandinavian, French, and Belgian markets, also progressed a strong position in the United States and Canada.This Airlines also developed an exciting and interesting portfolio of destinations that includes locations in Spain, Italy, Greece, China and Brazil. The EuroSites concept proved to be a hit, bringing Airtours to one of the leading positions in 1990's section. After launching its sail line operations in 1995, Airtours turned its attention to North America, purchasing Sunquest Vacations and Silverwing Holidays.
The Airtours is partly owned by the United States' Carnival Cruise Lines, the world's leading cruise line operator, which bought up nearly 30 percent of Airtours in 1996. By the end of the 1970s Crossland had built a chain of 12 travel agencies. In the beginning Airtours offers a tour package traveling from Wednesday-to-Wednesday, it did not attract the customers. Later Crossland began designing Saturday-to-Saturday tours. The shift to the weekend made entire difference in attracting the customers. At the end of 1983 the company expanded to 23 agencies and more than 200,000 tour customers per year. By the end of 1986 the company's tour business had become the primary source of revenues and growth.
Later in December 1998 Airtours entered into the Polish market, under the Ving brand name, and the extension of the company's U.K. travel agency division with the purchase of the 116-outlet Travelworld, since the worldwide travel market entered a new phase of integration, Airtours looked likely to take its place in the upper ranks of travel's global leaders. Airtours Airlines also provides online reservation facilities and new packages regularly.