Airtours name change

[dv8]

To My travel

[GARDENER]

Just had a look at the new airline livery which is really quite eyecatching. Shame about the name though.New paintwork apparantly to be introduced early next year(Feb)and as they replace their fleet over the next three years.

[RickPhucked]

Yeah, you have to admit, 'My Travel' sounds a bit tacky, Airtours sounds I lot better. It seems like a hell of a lot of complications though.

[The Guvnor]

We did this subject already weeks ago ... and, fwiw, I was the first to announce this change a couple of months back to much derision! :rolleyes: :D :rolleyes:

Don't forget, you hear the latest industry goss from PPRuNe first! :D :D :D

[The Guvnor]

... and here's what the aircraft will look like in their new colours. Marginally better than JMC, at least - though I have to admit that the Airtours livery was one of the nicer ones around.

http://www.airtours.com/graphics/newmt_plane.jpg

This is the Airtours press release:

MyTravel Airways

The European fleet of 51 aircraft will take to the air under the name of MyTravel Airways.

As part of our commitment to provide the best in performance and service using modern, efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft, we will also be replacing 21 of our existing aircraft with new Airbus 320 and 321 models over the next three years. All will bear the MyTravel name and its contemporary
livery.

The MyTravel name will be highly visible at check-in areas, ticket desks and airport signage where it is already seen in many UK airports.

It will also be seen in other new airport services planned, such as airport foreign exchange bureau, allowing the MyTravel name to be seen by millions of international travellers using airports around the world each year.

[ 27 November 2001: Message edited by: The Guvnor ]

[neil_further]

Airtours and Thomas Cook in stupid name battle.
Airtours have fought back in the war of corporate vanity to come up with an even more apathetic name than Cook’s JMC. Airtours PR company said they would never resort to using a TLA as it was to easy, MyTravel took minutes of work on their power book and really stood for something, although they didn’t know what.

[FREDA]

That's one of the mst stupid attempts at rebranding since Peach Air. I think it's even worse than JMC.

Did messrs Rolls and Royce toy with the idea of "Our Motorcars"?

You wonder how much they paid someone to brainstorm, run focus groups and so on to come up with such a stupid name so they could announce it on the same day as strong profits and large scale redundancies.

[sapco2]

Well it depends on whether the Airtours brand name has been damaged.
Also it may be an attempt to appease First Choice staff - once the merger/takover goes ahead.
I reckon there is a much bigger picture here, so maybe it's not so stupid!

[Buster the Bear]

A lovely shade of easy orange!

[FREDA]

The Shell-suit fraternity prefer easy to remember brands like, for example, Airtours. It's easy to remember, only has two syllables and is pretty self-explanatory.

A name like "My Travel" is meant to resonate with ABC1s who are used to MS Windows-speak like "My Documents", "My Contacts", "My Network Places" and "My Contacts". It is still a stupid name, IMHO.

[ABM]

To my mind it looks like a rip-off of the Freeserve logo/colours. :D

[dada]

my travel leader in the tour operating market. a great move foreward for a great company with a great future. in the not too distant future you may see a ( my ) travel takeover of less innovative and less successful companies. big it up for my travel future............

[PA38]

Have a look at http://www.uk.mytravel.com/cgi-bin/mytravel/Homepages/pages/home.jsp

Already up and running with the web site :)

[JetFixer]

Cull 1600+ jobs then spend a fortune on rebranding. MY ARSE

[vertex]

IFFFFFF there is a merger of Airtours & First Choice then:

My Travel + Travel Choice (First Choice high street outlets) =

MY TRAVEL CHOICE the new Company Brand

Very neatly fits together.

P.S Ken Smith MD of Air 2000 resigned today.

[moggie]

My Travel - all sounds a little bit "My Little Pony" and "Toys 'r' Us" doesn't it?

Dumbed down to make the bucket and spade brigade feel cosier.

[FREDA]

The rebranding of the Airline is pargely immaterial anyway since the package punters neither know nor really care who they end up flying with. The group name as a whole is still dumb if you ask me.

Ask Bob Ayling what happens when you try ****** about with a perfectly good brand.

Also, Airtours translated pretty well into the other markets they´re involved in so what are they going to do with "My Travel"?

[MEVERTSGB]

To make matters worse, they have added the .com bit to their name (MYTRAVEL.COM). The dot com bubble burst some time now. I guess, the immature 18 years olds at Airtour's ad agency haven't realised that yet ! I thought Airtours was one of the better names in the UK IT business. As far as I am concerned, these brand gurus can kissmy****.com. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Rollingthunder]

The dot.com bubble may have deflated somewhat (although some are getting it right - ebay...amazon etc) but My Travel is not a dot com, it's an airline and travel services company and certainly not a UK IT company. The .com facility is of course for internet access to booking services etc. and this is the way of the present and future as the internet bubble has not burst. Your presence on PPRuNe proves that.

[kishna]

Forgive me for deflating your over inflated bubble Rollongthunder, but Airtours - oops sorry My Travel is an IT company.......Inclusive Tour !

:cool:

[ 29 November 2001: Message edited by: kishna ]

[Rollingthunder]

Well, I apologise Krishna, I thought IT were the designators of Information Technology type companies.Inclusive Tours, that'll catch on.
Roll on.

[SZD]

Excel Airways.com

MyTravel Airways.com


MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :rolleyes:

[ 29 November 2001: Message edited by: SZD ]

[warren fontana]

But don't forget, www.air2000.com. (http://www.air2000.com.)
they got there 1st, and beat us all to it. :rolleyes:

[ 30 November 2001: Message edited by: EGCC-24 ]

[SFly]

Damn! I can't believe they are actually going through with it! :o

Would like to state for the 3rd time my point raised in the "aforementioned thread":

Changing the recognized Airtours name to the (just plain daft-sounding) MyTravel will do them no good at all. In fact, it will cause more harm than anything positive.

For passengers: which would they rather turn to, a reputable, well-established travel company, or what would seem from the cover to be a "start up" travel agency.

The Airtours name has been a trusted and popular one for over ten years now. Changing identity, especially in these difficult times, would be absolutely ridiculous.

Most lay-people know what you mean when you say "Going Places" or Airtours . . . if people are saying "Yeah, I booked my holiday through MyTravel," then the company has to re-establish themselves rather than growing on the well-built identity that has been dominant in the British holiday market for a decade.

And, to be quite honest, the identity "MyTravel" seems to me to have as much promise for success as any home-run start up agency, which places the Airtours group back at square one . . . not a good management move in any circles.

In this horrible time for airlines and tour groups everywhere, this is a very bad move on Airtours' part.

Goodbye Airtours, you will be missed.
:(
SFly

[ 30 November 2001: Message edited by: SFly ]

[cokehead]

Of course, you could take the opposite view that the reputation is not as good as it could be (courtesy of Anne Robinson and co.)and a fresh start is a good course of action. Also I think the name comes from a well established set up in the USA where the Airtours group has a finger in a lot of pies. Bringing them under one banner (all be it a daft sounding one) just might be a very good move. Seems to have been okay for JMC. Only time will tell........

[Hood]

Are Airtours still linked with Carnival cruise lines in the U.S.A.? May it be the Septics and their money.com :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[SFly]

Agreed it is a good idea for all the Airtours group members to come under a single banner but . . .

perhaps that banner should be "Airtours"?

What a revelation!
:rolleyes:
SFly

[Davey Clark]

Bad Move for Airtours, if you ask me.

They have a good reputation in the industry, so why press the "delete" button on it.

Wonder how much it cost?

Saying that, I like things made easy for me - a bit like Ronnie Regan's Whitehouse spokesman - we all remember Larry Speaks -don't we?

Next, how about MyDelay.com for NATS!

Wings level, Ball in the Puddle! :p

[Mad-Air]

At least Excel Airways is able to stand proudly that we are on time!! We exist to help the smaller Tour Ops, as Airtours (et al!) pushed them out!
And we've done very well this summer season thanks to all within the company and our suppliers.....
Obviously Airtours are running scared......!!
:p :p ;) ;)
On Time Is The Only Time

[speed check]

Just flown on them how about "MY DELAY.COM"
Seems rather apt.Or for Ryanair "the extended
holiday airline we'll always get you back late".Or "lounge Air" we make sure you spend
lots of time in there. Tea time i think! ;)

[speed check]

Even better one from the wife "my cramped seat" :) :) :)

[salope]

Hood,Carnival got out of Airtours a while back.

And for other correspondants who whinge about the bucket and spade brigade,shell suits etc do remember that it is often they who are paying your salaries,so dont despise them too much.

[SFly]

From the Airtours site: The Launch of MyTravel
Airtours unveils the plans for the future of the Group under the new name, MyTravel Group plc

We are today (27 Nov) unveiling our plans for the future of the Group under the new name, MyTravel Group plc. These plans were obviously underway before the events of 11 September and we have thought very carefully before continuing with them in the current environment. However, we are convinced that this is the right way forward for the Group and can be achieved by diverting existing expenditure, with no net incremental cost.

MyTravel is a whole new way of buying, selling and delivering leisure travel, where establishing and maintaining a relationship with each of our 15 million customers worldwide is at the heart of everything we do.

Through extensive customer research and adaptation of other successful high street retail models, we have developed a completely new experience for our retail shop customers. Across the UK, all our stores will be transformed under the MyTravel name to create a more interesting and exciting retail environment for our customers to buy their holidays.

In Scandinavia, a new, innovative customer proposition will see MyTravel offering the first retail environment where a range of our tour operator brands will be available under one roof.

Through investment in leading edge technology, we have launched today, and are further developing, a multi-channel distribution capability with MyTravel.com in the UK, Scandinavia and America. On the UK site alone we have over 15,000 images, 2,500 editorial articles and 300 virtual tours.

By re-branding our successful Airtours International and Premiair fleets as MyTravel Airways, we will create a single European fleet of 51 aircraft that will fly our new name to numerous destinations worldwide. The full transition to the MyTravel livery will be phased in as our new aircraft rollover is completed. This will ensure that MyTravel will be seen not only by millions of our own passengers flying to worldwide destinations, but also by the many millions of other international travellers using airports around the world.

In launching the MyTravel brand across the Group, we are promoting one of the world?s largest leisure travel businesses with operations touching the four corners of the world. We have some of the strongest brands in travel, many of which have become household names, backed up with the best team in the industry. Going forward, our customers will be at the heart of everything we do and we will provide a personalised, accessible and quality service within an environment that spans every aspect of travel. The financial benefits of higher customer loyalty and retention are considerable to our Group with its 15 million customers.
:rolleyes:

[SFly]

And here you can watch Tim Byrne, Airtours group's chief executive, talking about the state of the company and the change to MyTravel:

MyTravel interview (http://host2.cantoscomms.com/Airtours/video/air-d001-nb-4.ram)

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[The Guvnor]

A piccy of wot the airplanes will look like:

http://www.algonet.se/~ulldani/pictures/73502.jpg

Nope, still think I prefer the current livery!

[Click Clack]

The name change won't do much good


as the saying goes

You can't polish a turd

[kishna]

What kind of pathetic comment is that then Click Clack?

[ 07 December 2001: Message edited by: kishna ]

[El Desperado]

The BALPA CC have been asked to cut the scheduling agreement, wage freeze, increment freeze, etc. etc.

For what.. so we can fund this brand-changing lunacy ??!!

Airtours is a name that is well known on the high-street. Some of our holidays are superb, some rubbish. Some punters come back having had the best time of their life, some come back having had the worst, cursing Airtours and vowing never to book another holiday etc etc. Same for everyone.

The last thing any corporation needs to be doing at this time is repainting fleets, paying for stationery, business cards, new brochure design.. the list is endless. Not least, removing a household name from the travel agents. Sheesh.

It might be appropriate at some time in the future, but my travel.com is appearing at the wrong time and it is Airtours crew who will have to pay for it, literally, out of their wage packets. And for what...

Orange aircraft and polyester orange uniforms.

EasyTours.

Disgruntled.

[SFly]

So anyway . . . back on the topic . . .


Any further intelligent postings?

SFly

[Twin Jet]

As I have posted before and agreed by T' Gov bloke, the Airtous painted baby Boeings are about the best looking in the business and Mighty Ravel or is that My T ravel will find it hard to beat the paint job. But.......remember when we all posted about the naff SLEASY JET, well, it stuck and it works and the punters remember it. To have such a large and mobile advertising platform as My Travel.com which actually represents the shop front presently known as Going Places can be no bad thing. Remember, this is going next to: My e-mails, My Pictures, My Shopping......so My Travel.com sort of works doesn't it. OK, ***** colour scheme but good marketing.

Shame the pub closed early tonight..

[SFly]

Yes, but at least call the airline Airtours International, the in-house airline for MyTravel still . . . I mean that wouldn't hurt would it?

I mean, you don't have First Choice/Unijet Airlines, Thomsons International or Cosmos/Sunworld Airlines etc . . . do you?

Furthermore, keeping just the airline would save so much money for the company . . . consider it, no offices would need to be changed, no airport signs, no stationary / logo replacement , no aircraft interior re-design, no aircraft exterior re-paint etc. Have Airtours considered this?

Incidentally, does anyone know just what "Gradual Fleet Replacement" entails?

SFly :rolleyes: :confused:

[Viscount Sussex]

Click Clack
I can see you are doing very well. Looking at your profile, you registered on 2nd December 2001, you have three posts and looking at them (another in the "French ATC strike" thread) are quite remarkable! Regarding your ATC posting, please don't embarass the British. France happens to be just to the South of the UK and perhaps that explains why "the frogs", as you call them, affect "the brits". It's them French, in it mate!! Whatever.
:confused: :rolleyes: :mad:

[ 08 December 2001: Message edited by: Viscount Sussex ]

[simbad3000]

Well, around half of those posting in this thread are opposed to the name change because they see the Airtours name as a valuable asset - whilst the other half are opposed because they don’t think a simple name change will help eradicate Airtours’ bad reputation. Hum. :rolleyes:

I agree that it is an insensitive time to be spending money on this kind of thing, but if they take two years to make the changeovers (as someone told me was the case) it shouldn’t be too bad as aircraft eventually come up for repainting anyway, etc.

The new MyTravel Website is pretty good - allowing online flight bookings unlike the old Airtours site. The only bad thing is the name itself, which is about as inventive as something not very uninventive. Maybe they went for a simple name to appeal to their new American customers?

[SFly]

There seems to be far too much change in recent months in this portion of the industry for it's own good . . .

(I say this in response to the whole JMC/Thomas Cook Airlines thread but thought it more relevant here.)

Names and identities are changing all over the place, airlines are mucking about with who they are (or, indeed, just completely changing altogether).

In this time of crisis industry-wide, does it not seem a little wiser for the airlines to rest on what little laurels they have accumulated and have left and just try to ride the storm to come out in one piece?

My word, in a few years there might be a complete reversal of this area and after all the airlines have completely changed their identities, names and owner's groups to nonsensical people's initials or names, or some foreign tour group's moniker, they will all start changing back again. Perhaps they will change back to the regular old airlines we have grown to love and passengers have grown to accept . . . Airtours, JMC, Britannia (minus the communist etching on the side of a light blue banana!) etc. They have all been building their identities for years, and suddenly they all jump on the change bandwagon just when it would do them the least good, when the whole aviation business has been thrown into a cyclonic turmoil. :rolleyes: Numerous respected airlines have already gone under, and what these "change-mongers" don't realize (or at least demonstrate so) is that at any moment their businesses could change for the worse. I think they should save their funds, grin and bear the economic strife, and carry on.

It's just common sense, yet these groups seem to lack it.

SFly :eek: :o :(

[SFly]

Forgive me for going on and on about this topic (but isn't that what PPRuNe is for? :) )

Just found out about the so called "minimal spending" required to transfer the name.

Was approximately forecasted at £100 million pre-September 11th, now that has been "revised" and it still sits at a whopping £63 million. And, speculating, I expect it'll end up as more than that too. Now with that kind of money they could buy a new aircraft or two, or . . . (gasp!) improve the lot of their pilots, financially, perhaps! <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> Especially as forecasted profits for 2002 are down £45 million, almost equal to the cost of the rebranding.

However, the whole thing depends on the die being cast by the shareholders who will meet on 7 February 2002. Now what do you suppose they're going to do?? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

It just doesn't seem good business practice to me, especially if you take into account my earlier point about passenger familiarity. <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0"> <img src="frown.gif" border="0">

SFly