Firstly, TCX i believe did win the OTP award a couple of years ago.
Correct! That was a
few years ago and since then they have managed to forget everything they knew in relation to their
On Time Everytime approach to things; although they did pull it back last Summer but still lagged 6 mins behind MyTravel on average delay and 12 percentage points behind MYT for OTP.
but analysts reckon that many of the £75m savings will come from cutting six of its 97 aircraft
I don't think anything has been released into the press to that effect and is most likely the media doing what they do best; Sexing things up!. If aircraft are to go, I could see them transferring to MyTravel Airways A/S.
The majority of job losses will be formed where there is duplication of Travel Agents in towns and cities. This will likely fall on the lowest turn over unit or those with the highest price leases. In relation to any agents loosing jobs, MyTravel will likely offer them Home Working positions as it is currently establishing the Going Places For You network. Anyone affected by store closures in the past has been offered this as an alternate to taking redundancy.
If MyTravel Airways does become Thomas Cook Airlines in the UK, I just can't see the same happening in Northern Europe. The UK is used to change, for the example, the four name changes Britannia will have had by 2008. Britannia, TUI Branding, Thomson, Thomsonfly, TUIfly. However look at what happened when TC they tried to change Condor to Thomas Cook Airline; it didn't work and they subsequently they reverted back to the Condor name. MyTravel is an extremely powerful name and brand in Northern Europe where Thomas Cook is relatively unknown. DK wins award after award so I doubt this is going to be something TC want to mess with if the past has taught them anything!
The MyTravel name has been gaining a lot of momentum in the UK and has become the number 3 most popular online travel website in the UK behind Thomson and Expedia and was recently been awarded eSuperbrand status. The logo and title “Part of MyTravel Group” has recently been applied to all the groups brochures and the feeling amongst my customers is that the MyTravel name is well associating with excellent OTP and good service. I can’t see the brand disappearing all together just because they are merging with Thomas Cook; at least not online if anywhere.
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