First Choice

First Choice is to cut flights from Cardiff International Airport in November with the loss of up to 50 jobs, but some of the staff could transfer to a new base in Exeter. 26-Apr-2007

First Choice Holidays is planning to merge with TUI to create a combined £4bn travel group called TUI Travel, which is expected to lead to job losses in their 1,100 shops. 20-Mar-2007

First Choice Holidays has acquired i-to-i of Leeds, iExplore of the US and WesternXposure of Australia for a total £22m, in order to expand its activity holidays business. 02-Mar-2007

First Choice Holidays has acquired LateRooms, the Manchester-based online holiday sales company, for an initial £108m. 02-Jan-2007

First Choice is considering plans to sell off its main tour operating business for about £500m, in order to focus on specialist holidays. 28-Nov-2006

First Choice Holidays is planning to shed 200 jobs by outsourcing back-office functions in the UK and by closing some operations in Portugal and Germany. 26-Oct-2006

First Choice Holidays has acquired YMT Vacations, the US-based tour operator, for up to £27m. 13-Jul-2006

MyTravel is to acquire Encore Cruises, the Canadian cruise holidays company, from First Choice for £1.8m. 07-Jul-2006

First Choice is to acquire Grand Expeditions, the US-based leisure travel group, from North Castle Partners for £54m, as well as US adventure travel company INTRAV for £37m. 09-Dec-2005

First Choice Holidays is looking to spend up to £100m on bolt-on acquisitions next year, in response to the rising demand for niche holidays. 27-Oct-2005

First Choice Holidays is planning to close its call centre in Kilmarnock in June, with the loss of up to 160 jobs. 17-Mar-2005

First Choice Holidays is to shed up to 80 back-office jobs in Weston-super-Mare. 06-Sep-2004

First Choice has acquired StudentCity, the US-based student holidays company, for £23m. 19-Jul-2004

First Choice Holidays has acquired The Adventure Company and Caradona Caribbean Travels for £6.2m, in order to expand its activity holidays division. 12-Mar-2004

First Choice Holidays has sold its Spanish retail and business travel operations to Barcelo of Spain for £30m. 18-Nov-2003

First Choice Holidays is seeking 60 extra staff for a new Travel Choice call centre due to open at Dunedin House, Teesdale, in April. 27-Mar-2003

First Choice has announced plans to open 50 travel shops in the north, with the creation of up to 300 jobs, in order to promote flights from Manchester Airport by its sister airline Air 2000. 26-Sep-2002

First Choice Holidays is to acquire Porter & Haylett, the owner of the Connoisseur holiday boating business, for £24m. 02-Aug-2002

First Choice Holidays is to acquire Exodus Travels, the operator of adventure holidays, for up to £10m. 20-May-2002

First Choice, the tour operator, is to shed 1,100 jobs, with at least half affecting its 10 offices and 330 shops in the UK. 05-Oct-2001

First Choice has acquired Tourinter, the French holiday operator, for undisclosed terms. 22-Jun-2001

First Choice is considering plans to sell its tour operating business in Canada, which is estimated to be worth £40m. 13-Jun-2001

First Choice is to acquire Virgin Sun, the package holiday company, for up to £5.9m. 20-Mar-2001

First Choice is planning to buy a 75% stake in CIT Holidays, which trades as Citalia, for £15m. 12-Mar-2001

First Choice is to acquire 18 American Express outlets from Amex Canada, and will run the business under the Amex franchise. 14-Feb-2001

First Choice is looking to spend up to £130m on the acquisition of tour operators in continental Europe. 13-Dec-2000

First Choice has acquired Sun Holidays, a chain of 36 travel agencies in Canada. 05-Dec-2000

First Choice is acquiring Crown Holidays, the operator of inland waterway holidays, for £21m. 04-Sep-2000

First Choice has opened its new £5m Travel Choice Direct call centre in Kilmarnock with 200 staff, and a further 200 jobs will be created over the coming months. 11-Jul-2000

First Choice has bought the travel division of Barcelo in a £34m deal, giving it access to a network of 275 Spanish travel agencies, and the two companies are also planning a joint hotels venture. 16-Jun-2000

First Choice is in discussions to acquire a stake in Barcelo, the Spanish tour operator and hotels group. 09-Jun-2000

First Choice is to acquire Ten Tour for up to £77m, in order to expand its specialist European tour operating business. 06-Jun-2000

First Choice is to form a £64m European cruise joint venture with Miami-based Royal Caribbean, and Royal Caribbean will acquire a £200m stake in First Choice. 19-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

First Choice Holidays is to open six more outlets in its recently-acquired Holiday Hypermarkets chain by March. 24-Jan-2000

First Choice has acquired full ownership of Holiday Hypermarkets in a £45m deal. 15-Dec-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

First Choice has acquired Sunsail International, the operator of sailing holidays, for up to £40m. 18-Sep-1999

First Choice Holidays is to create 600 jobs in Scotland by the end of the year in an expansion of its new Travel Choice division, including a call centre in Ayrshire and 35 travel shopping outlets. 13-Aug-1999

First Choice is in discussions to acquire Meon Holdings, as part of a strategy to expand its portfolio of tour operator brands. 21-Jul-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

First Choice is to merge with Kuoni Reisen of Switzerland to create one of the largest tour operators in Europe, and the new group will be called Kuoni Holdings and have a headquarters in Crawley. 16-Mar-1999

First Choice is in merger talks with Kuoni of Switzerland to create a combined European tour operator with activities in 15 countries. 10-Mar-1999

First Choice, the tour operator, has received a number of bid approaches, prompting speculation that Preussag of Germany is seeking to build up its UK operations. 02-Mar-1999

First Choice Holidays has appointed Chesterton to find suitable locations for 50 new stores in the south-east by next May. 27-Nov-1998

First Choice Holidays has acquired Intatravel Group, the chain of 32 travel shops, for £8m. 17-Nov-1998

First Choice Holidays is to begin flights from Blackpool airport to Alicante next year. 05-Nov-1998

First Choice is acquiring the Bakers Dolphin chain of 52 travel agencies for £12m, as well as minority stakes in Hays Travel, Holiday Express and Holiday Hypermarkets, as part of a plan to create a network of 700 outlets. 29-Oct-1998

Inspirations, the tour operator that has been put up for sale by its US parent Carlson, is said to have attracted the interest of three leading holiday companies - Thomas Cook, First Choice Holidays and Airtours. 24-Aug-1998

First Choice is to acquire two holiday operators - Unijet for £110m and Hayes & Jarvis for £24m - in a move that is expected to increase its market share from 11% to 18%. 19-Jun-1998

First Choice is acquiring Royal Vacations, the Canadian tour operator, for £1.2m. 12-May-1998

First Choice is to start offering budget cruises from the summer of 1999, a year later than originally planned due to a dispute with its unnamed cruise partner. 17-Dec-1997

First Choice Holidays is planning to develop partnerships with travel agents and provide them with own-label holidays, but it is not expected to acquire a travel agent in the short-term. 09-Jan-1997

First Choice Holidays has agreed a 5-year agency deal with Viajes Barcelo, the Spanish travel company, in which Barcelo will acquire Viajes Elena, the First Choice subsidiary. 25-Nov-1996

Thomas Cook is planning to sell its 11% stake in First Choice, the tour operator, as it prepares for the acquisition of Sunworld for £40m. 06-May-1996

First Choice Holidays has a reported a 14% fall in summer bookings and may further reduce the number of holidays on offer in order to avoid discounting. 23-Feb-1996

First Choice Holidays is optimistic about next summer's holiday market now that the industry has shed 1.5m holidays. 20-Dec-1995

First Choice Holidays has reduced its holiday capacity for 1996 by a further 7%, due to low demand. 25-Nov-1995

First Choice has made three acquisitions - Skibound for £26m, JWT Holdings for I£5.3m and Fiesta West of Canada for £8.4m. 03-Oct-1995



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