This from ATI:
MyTravel to axe one-third of fleet
(27Jul04 08:42 GMT) David Kaminski-Morrow, London
Troubled UK tour operator MyTravel Group is to withdraw its entire Boeing fleet from service - a third of its aircraft - with the loss of up to 540 jobs, in a bid to reduce costs at the company.
MyTravel Airways operates five Boeing 757-200s and three Boeing 767-300ERs. It is also set to dispose of its sole McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, having already withdrawn three older DC-10-10s as part of a previous fleet cut.
"We've got ourselves into the position of having too much capacity," says a spokesman for MyTravel. He says that, in the light of market pressures, the company has found it difficult to adjust capacity to demand and that the tour operator needs greater flexibility.
It concedes that up to 118 pilots, 372 cabin crew members and 50 other staff could lose their jobs - although the spokesman says that it will be "seeking viable alternatives" for employees affected.
The company has entered a 90-day consultation period with unions and it will not specify details regarding the cuts, and the locations affected, until this period has expired. No cuts will be made before 1 November, says the spokesman, and the present summer schedule will be unaffected.
But the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA) claims that the cuts will hit Manchester, London Gatwick and Stansted, and Cardiff.
"We have a good working relationship with the company and we shall work closelywith management to try to keep some of the jobs," says BALPA national officer David Margrie. "We have a 90-day consultation period and pilots and other employees will not be given their notice until November, so we have time to see what we can do."
Removal of the nine aircraft will leave MyTravel with an all-Airbus fleet which, says the company, will generate additional benefits. MyTravel operates around 20 Airbuses - a mix of A330-200s and A320/321s.
According to the AvSoft ACAS database, MyTravel leases eight of the nine aircraft, owing one of the 757s outright. The other four 757s and all three 767s are owned by Airfleet Credit, while the DC-10 is leased from Finova Capital.
Oh dear!