27 December.
Better all start re-reading those de-icing procedures!
PRESS RELEASE
ASTRAEUS BECOMES PART OF NORTHERN TRAVEL GROUP
A new leisure group, Northern Travel Holding (“Northern Travel”), has been formed by the Icelandic investment groups, Fons (who will hold 44%), FL Group (34%) and Sund (22%).
Northern Travel has acquired the following travel related investments:
• Sterling Airlines (100%)
• Iceland Express (100%)
• Astraeus (51%)
• Ticket, the Swedish stock-market quoted travel agent (29.3%)
• Hekla Travel, the largest travel agent in Denmark (100%)
The new company will be market leading, combining Scandinavia’s largest low cost carrier with Scandinavia’s largest retailer in the travel industry. Annual turnover of the group is estimated at £850 million with 7.5 million passengers flown each year.
Pálmi Haraldsson, Chairman of Northern Travel, commented:
“Northern Travel offers great potential. We believe that this unique combination of assets will have a great effect on the Nordic travel and tourism market. The company is heavily represented in all the Nordic countries and intends to increase its representation through various means.
All of the companies will continue to be operated in current form and no change in staff is planned. The shareholders of Northern Travel all want to expand the businesses of the underlying companies and tighten their co-operation. The goal of the owners is to make Northern Travel a profitable, inventive and forward looking entity.”
Hugh Parry, Managing Director of Astraeus, commented:
“Astraeus is now part of a much larger travel focused group which will provide further opportunities to expand our fleet, network and distribution. This is good news for staff and customers alike. We look forward to exploring synergies with our sister companies and enjoying a long and profitable relationship within Northern Travel.”