The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report.
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Airtours Airtours is planning to change its name to MyTravel, which will affect its 700 high-street travel shops and its airline, and has also announced the loss of 1,600 jobs. 26-Nov-2001 Airtours is to open a new MyTravel superstore at Teesside Retail Park in February, with the creation of up to 50 jobs. 09-Nov-2001 Airtours is to shed 100 jobs across its nationwide network of travel companies, which include Going Places, Panorama and Direct Holidays. 05-Oct-2001 Airtours has acquired a 20% stake in Aqua Sol Hotels, the operator of 39 hotels in Cyprus and Greece. 05-Jun-2001 Airtours is to offer seven more holiday destinations from Liverpool Airport, in response to the £30m airport expansion project by owner Peel Holdings. 18-May-2001 Airtours is acquiring World Choice Travel, the hotel reservations website, for up to £6.8m. 14-Mar-2001 Airtours is planning to sell its £200m overseas hotel portfolio, which will involve a sale-and-leaseback arrangement for properties in Spain and Greece. 12-Mar-2001 Airtours is to reduce its chain of high street travel shops from 840 to 720 outlets, which will affect about 550 jobs, as more customers are now booking holidays over the phone. 02-Mar-2001 Airtours is acquiring a 50% stake in Hotetur Club of Majorca for £29m, in order to secure hotel accommodation in Spain, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. 21-Sep-2000 Airtours is to sell its 50% stake in Costa Crociere, the Italian cruise line business, to its US joint venture partner Carnival for £350m, and the proceeds will be used to expand in the North American leisure market. 29-Aug-2000 Airtours is to relocate up to 1,200 jobs to Rochdale, having decided to move its Airtours Holidays business from Helmshore and its Going Places subsidiary from Surrey. 08-Jun-2000 Airtours is planning to reduce its operations in Belgium, withdraw from the timeshare market, and release capital by selling its freeholds on resort hotels. 26-May-2000 Airtours has sold its 3% stake in First Choice, prompting speculation that it may be interested in a merger with C&N Touristic of Germany. 17-May-2000 Airtours is planning to invest £100m in e-commerce activities over the next three years, and expects to make savings of £20m a year through a reduction in travel agent's commission and brochure costs. 11-May-2000 Airtours is considering plans to bid for LTU, the German tour operator, but may face a rival offer from Rewe. 09-May-2000 Airtours has acquired Hotel Don Pedro, the Spanish operator of 28 Globales hotels, for £44m. 03-Apr-2000 Airtours is creating 65 new jobs at its Panorama Holidays call centre near Brighton, by relocating the recently-acquired Manos Holidays business from London. 24-Mar-2000 Airtours is planning to form an internet-based bank in partnership with the Bank of Scotland, which would represent the first major move by a holiday company into mainstream financial services. 28-Feb-2000 Airtours is acquiring Travel Services International of the US for £240m, which will help to improve its internet booking capability. 22-Feb-2000 Airtours has acquired Manos, the charter tour operator that offers holidays to Greece and Turkey, for undisclosed terms. 07-Feb-2000 Airtours has bought the 1,474-room Bellevue hotel in Majorca for £63m, as part of a strategy to acquire control of accommodation in the leading holiday destinations. 28-Jan-2000 Airtours has launched a bid worth more than £300m for Deutsches Reiseburo, the German travel agency, in order to expand its European package holiday business. 16-Oct-1999 Airtours has had its £950m bid for First Choice blocked by the European Commission, due to the effect on competition in the UK leisure travel market. 23-Sep-1999 Airtours is acquiring 155 German travel agencies from Metro's Real Group in a £9.4m deal made by Frosch Touristik, the tour operator in which Airtours has a 35% stake. 21-Aug-1999 Airtours is acquiring Trivselresor, the Swedish holidays company, for £7.5m. 01-Jul-1999 Airtours is to have its hostile bid for the First Choice holidays business investigated by the European Commission, due to concerns about the effect on competition. 04-Jun-1999 Airtours is to invest £1m in a new system that will enable customers of its Direct Holidays subsidiary to make bookings via the internet. 26-May-1999 Airtours is acquiring Marysol, the Dutch travel agent, for undisclosed terms. 13-May-1999 Airtours has acquired a 40% stake in EVS Beteiligungs, the German tour operator, for undisclosed terms, as well as a 65% stake in the Blue Bay resorts chain which operates hotels in Mexico and the Caribbean. 08-May-1999 Airtours has launched a £800m hostile takeover bid for First Choice, the tour operator that has agreed a merger with Kuoni, and a holiday price war could develop if its bid is successful. 30-Apr-1999 Airtours is planning to launch a hostile counter bid for First Choice, the tour operator that has agreed a merger with Kuoni. 17-Apr-1999 Airtours is to close its travel sales offices in Darlington, Sunderland and Newcastle, and relocate the operations to a new site at the Royal Quays development in North Shields. 23-Mar-1999 Airtours has acquired Travelworld, the travel agency with 116 outlets, for an initial £9m. 02-Dec-1998 Airtours has announced a £250m convertible bond to fund its strategy of becoming one of the top three tour operators in Europe. 25-Nov-1998 Airtours is to set up a new telephone enquiry centre in Accrington, creating up to 230 jobs. 12-Nov-1998 Airtours is acquiring Panorama Holiday Group, the Brighton-based tour operator, for £10m, as well as Vacation Express, the US tour operator, for £14m. 01-Oct-1998 Airtours is planning a 5% cut in the number of summer holidays offered next year, in order to avoid a return to the over-capacity that hit the sector in 1995. 13-Aug-1998 Airtours has acquired Direct Holidays, the Glasgow-based tour operator that has 25% of the telephone booking market, for £81m, which will take it into direct selling for the first time. 22-Jul-1998 Airtours is looking to acquire holiday operators in the north-eastern US and eastern Canada, although no deal is imminent. 28-May-1998 Airtours has acquired a 29% stake Frosche Touristik, the German tour operator, for an initial £17m and has an option to buy the rest of the group in 2002. 14-May-1998 Airtours has added a fourth ship called The Song of America to its cruise programme, and will lease it from Royal Caribbean Cruise. 15-Apr-1998 Airtours is to launch a customer loyalty scheme that will offer points to be redeemed against the price of future holidays, and it will also include a Visa card provided by Beneficial Bank. 16-Mar-1998 Airtours is said to be interested in acquiring a 34% stake in LTU, the German tour operator, from Westdeutsche Landesbank. 27-Jan-1998 Airtours has completed the acquisition of 80% of Sun International, the Belgian tour operator, for £56m and it expects to acquire the remaining 20% soon. 27-Nov-1997 Airtours is to set up a package holiday business in Poland next year, under the name Ving. 29-Oct-1997 Airtours has acquired a resort in the Canary Islands for £11m, which it will convert into 150 timeshare apartments. 15-Oct-1997 Airtours is acquiring Sun International, the Belgian package holiday company which owns the Cresta Travel and Bridge Travel brands in the UK, for £70m. 02-Oct-1997 Airtours and Carnival Corporation, its shareholder, are to acquire Costa Crociere, the Italian cruise line, for £168m. 18-Mar-1997 Airtours is linking up with Carnival Corp, its main shareholder, to launch a £181m bid for Costa Cruciere, the Italian cruise line, in order to benefit from the expected rapid growth in the Mediterranean cruise market. 20-Dec-1996 Airtours is setting up a 50:50 joint venture with Emerson Holdings to build a timeshare resort in Orlando. 13-Nov-1996 Airtours, the UK tour operator, has set up Sunquest Holdings in Los Angeles, in order to sell budget package holidays to Californians. 12-Oct-1996 Carnival, the US cruise line operator, is to acquire a 29.6% stake in Airtours, the UK tour operator, in what could be part of a plan to take full control. 23-Feb-1996 Airtours is buying Simon Spies Holding, the Danish tour operator, as well as aviation assets from Conair for £10m and £50m respectively. 16-Feb-1996 Airtours reports that summer holiday bookings were down 34% at the end of December. 26-Jan-1996 Carnival Corp, the US cruise liner operator, is in discussions to buy a 30% stake in Airtours, the UK tour operator. 20-Jan-1996 Airtours expects the UK holiday market to fall 15% next year to 8.5m holidays, with prices rising 8-10%. 12-Dec-1995 Airtours has made 95 job cuts, mainly at its Lancashire HQ. 22-Sep-1995 The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report. 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