My Travel (various merged)

[expedite_climb]

From FT.com


Mytravel drops as H1 losses widen
Former Airtours says not confident of year recovery By Ivar M Simensen FT Investor, 09:06 BST May 22, 2002

LONDON (FT Investor) - Mytravel dropped more than 20 per cent on Wednesday after the UK holiday operator formerly known as Airtours reported widening first-half losses and warned it was no longer confident of recovering the losses this year.



Shares of Mytravel [MT, News, Chart, Research] were 24.2 per cent lower at 170.75p in early London trade and rival First Choice [FCD, News, Chart, Research], the tour operator, dropped as much as 11 per cent to 105p.

"There's a lack of visibility in the industry and a lack of confidence in the stock," said Richard Finch of UK broker Williams deBroe.

After the effects of September 11 hit first-quarter earnings, the company said the recovery depended on a turnaround in family bookings at brochure prices, particularly for the UK peak season.

"To date, we have not recovered this shortfall and can therefore no longer be confident of recovering all the increased first-quarter losses," said Tim Byrne, chief executive.



The company said pre-tax losses in the first six months widened to £157m from £97.6m one year ago as group turnover dropped 17.6 per cent to £1.73bn.

Mytravel said it expected an improved performance in the second half but could not be confident of reporting full-year growth.

Credit Suisse First Boston cut its 2002 pre-tax profit estimate by 20 per cent to £117m after the results and put its recommendation under review.

"Germany is the joker in the pack and clearly the biggest long-term challenge, regardless of September 11 or not," said Mr Finch.

"It is difficult to be the number three player in an over-supplied market."

Williams de Broe rated Mytravel a 'hold' before the results and Finch said the stock was getting closer to a sell rating. "They have previously enjoyed a premium rating, trading at higher multiples than competitors, but the stock has clearly lost its shine," Mr Finch added.

Ivar Simensen is a reporter for FT Investor in London.


http://investor.ft.com/custom/ftmarkets-com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B7555677C-094E-4D08-8150-563506F0C73A%7D

[763 jock]

Yep, its doom and gloom. But let's not overlook that they still expect to post full year profits of £115m to £120m. Rod Eddington would surely swap places!

[PA38]

It has been on BBC loacal radio (GMR) that My Travel will start "no frills low fare" flights from October.

It was said that they will operate from an undisclosed airport, with up to 10 destinations.

Suppose it's something to do with airframes and crew in the winter ;)

Hope you still have some cash Stelios :D

[Konkordski]

ATI says theyre moving a couple of A320's from the main fleet to do it.

[willoman]

They have also announced first half loss of £122 million ( up from £77 million for the same period last year ). A profit warning was also issued to investors. Not much light at the end of this tunnel !!

[lambchopboy]

manchester by any chance?

[Scallywag]

How about Finningley ;)

[bullshot]

Absolutely true 763.. and does anyone else feel just a little uneasy when apparent bad news like this about an Airline comes from an employee of another Company?

Expedite-climb, as far as I am aware, works for the same Airline as myself (JMC), and, hopefully I am wrong but the impression given is that reporting of this kind about another company gives some people a certain satisfaction. I know this is a news forum but why not leave it to the moderators to pass on these kind of reports.

Those of us who are Pilots know that the Airline that we end up in is more than likely down to fate - period. Other than operating aircraft as professionally as possible (which is what we are paid for), we have little or no input into the quality of our management or the ultimate destiny of our Airline.

We are all in this together - so.. lets leave the bad news to the press

[unwiseowl]

Radio 2 today: They are going to start a new low cost airline AND, AMAZINGLY, they are going into DIGTAL TV!!!!!! Now there is a way to lose money.

[expedite_climb]

bullshot,

I'm not sure how whoever I (or who you think I) work for really matters here. I most certainly don't want to see My Travel go down - far from it. You are very correct about our jobs and fate, and I have several friends who work for MYT.

Correct me if this im wrong but - (Although a different name now) - is this forum for rumours and news ???

[monkey lover]

Far side, correct me if I am wrong, but doesnt Monarch operate both charter and scheduled services ?

[kimmeke]

Anyway, they are still hiring A320 pilots.

This was published in the last flight inltl.

First Officers

Salary:

Location: UK

Company: Mytravel Airways

Posted: 20 May 2002

Description: MyTravel Airways have a small number of vacancies for A320/1 rated pilots for temporary positions at BRC/CWL/BHX/EMA for the summer period. Employment will be from the 5th June to the 30th October 2002.
Minimum requirements:
Captains - UK ATPL/JAA licence. 4,500 hours with 500 in command on the Airbus.
First Officers - 500 hours with 300 on the Airbus.
If you meet the above requirements and availability - apply to: Captain N. Dance, Chief Pilot

Contact: Captain N. Dance, Chief Pilot

Reference: FI/

Address: Parkway Three, Parkway Business Centre, 300 Princess Road, Manchester Greater Manchester M14 7QU

Telephone:

Fax: 0161 232 6638

Email: [email protected]
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[expedite_climb]

Monkey Lover,

You are correct - Monarch do do Scheduled, as do, I believe Air 2000 and jmc.... They all need to be able to compete with the low cost likes.

[Lou Scannon]

With the number of slots that the charter airlines own at the better airports, the likes of Easy and Ryan and certainly BA, could well be hit should the charters really get into the "low cost seat only business".

[El Desperado]

MYT have posted a profits warning which they are required to do under various stock laws - this year's profit (not loss !) will not be at the level previously expected and notified to the City.

Bear in mind that MYT is now an umbrella group for a wide variety of companies, not least the former Airtours International airline and the profits warning relates to the group as a whole.

There have been no redundancies at the airline, we got a pay increase this year, an increase and extension to the yearly increments and in return we conceded some minor adjustments to the Scheduling Agreement. Admittedly, most, if not all, of this was down to the excellent work of the BALPA reps, but the airline is not down and out :) In fact, the ex-BritWorld 757 has recently been delivered and is already being flown. Fleet expansion... who'd have believed it ??!!

Management wanted a pay-freeze, an abolition of the scheduling agreement and lots of other draconian measures post Sep-11, but these have proved unnecessary.

The low-cost formula is something else. Every airline is attempting to blag a share of every other airline's business, but (and please correct me if I'm wrong), MYT is basically going to fly no-frills charter flights. No scheduled services, just a stripped-down charter trip.

Not everything is rosy at the former AIH, but there are worse companies to be employed by right now. The people who count the coins do seem to know what they're doing judging by the companies position at the moment, but perhaps that's wishful thinking on my part !

[SLT]

Well said Desperado!!! At last - someone being positive instead of all doom and gloom!!!! ;)

[tourjet]

The following from Sundays Observer. Says it all!

The name's to blame
Jeannette Hyde
Saturday May 25 2002
The Guardian


How does Mytravel chairman David Crossland have the gall to blame 11 September for the fact his company still has more than one million package holidays left to sell this summer? He says bookings picked up in January and February this year, but fell away after Easter as families held back from booking in the hope of picking up a bargain.

Now, how many people do you know who have held back from booking their main summer holiday in the Med this year due to 11 September? I don't know any. I know the odd person who still doesn't fancy travelling to the US at the moment because they are scared by terrorism, but nobody seems to be holding back from the Balearic Islands. Funnily enough, rivals Thomson and First Choice claim their bookings are doing well.

How the City can accept such absurd excuses for a company failing to sell holidays to the Balearics and the Costa del Sol, I don't know. Why isn't anyone asking Mr Crossland if the small matter of a rebranding exercise from the household name Airtours to the completely nebulous Mytravel label in February this year has anything to do with it? Say the word Mytravel to most people (try it on your friends) and most haven't got a clue what you are talking about. Everyone I know still calls it Airtours - even the ones I know who have recently booked with the company. Three out of four companies suffer on the stock market follow ing a name change, so why isn't Airtours admitting it?

To change a major brand name to one that no one knows on the back of 11 September is more likely to be the reason for the company's unsuccessful sales.

The other hugely obvious reason Mytravel is proving unpopular is the massive competition it is facing from the low-cost airlines such as Easyjet, Ryanair and Go which now offer cheap flights to the Med. The fact that Mytravel has announced that it will launch its own mini low-cost airline in October says one thing: low-cost airlines are taking too much of its business. It's a very obvious case of: 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'

Mr Crossland, admit it. Your new brand is weak and your package holidays have gone out of fashion. This week, I booked a holiday to Ibiza. I booked the flights on Go's website and tried to find a hotel that had space from a range of guide books. I only managed to get seats because Go had put on extra flights in the school summer holidays to meet extra demand, and, after a huge amount of phon ing around, found a place to stay. Most independent hotels were fully booked.

The flights are at civilised times of day, the total price of the holiday is less than the cost of a package and we can go on a Tuesday and return on a Sunday without the claustrophobia of being locked into a seven- or 14-night package. I'm not surprised Go is running out of flights and the independent hotels are fully booked while the package holidays are still piled high on Mytravel's shelves.

Anyway, the good news is that with a million packages left to shift, there should be a few bargains kicking around this summer.

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited

[Thunderbird One]

I think you'll find that if you go into a travel agent to book an Airtours holiday thats what you'll get - an Airtours holiday.

In the My Travel UK Group there are various brands of holiday
companies like Manos, Aspro, Panorama Holidays and others,
not quite sure which, but like Airtours holidays they are all
marketed as individual brands and not My Travel Holidays.

It is only the airline that has changed it's name to My Travel and their travel agents Going Places. All the Airtours brochure etc still exist and are published up until October 2003.

The average package holiday maker doesn't know or care what the airline is called when booking a holiday and they don't really have a choice. They book a holiday and the holiday company charters the flight so it could be any charter. If you book Thomson
Holidays it's likely to be Britannia, If you book Airtours it's likely to be My Travel, however you will get Thomson passengers on My Travel and vise-versa sometimes.

Like most charted airline companies, the airline is secondary, it is the tour operator in the driving seat.

I'm sure that the average passengers aren't going to book a holiday just so they can fly Airtours International or Britannia etc. and if they do I'm sure thats not the reason why the My Travel group have so many un-sold holidays. After all - it's just a name.

[rupetime]

Does anyone know how many tour operators, airlines or travel agents Jeanette Hyde runs ?


Mr Crossland can blame the lack of sales on whatever he wants to (Using Sept 11th is a tad old hat when all the others are selling holidays, admittedly not enough, but not as few as MYT)

Sad to say but the sale of holidays will only pick up when England
exit the World Cup - it always happens when there is a world cup or major football tournament, its called a trend.

Pray for the weather to stay poor and the world cup to be over for England soon and the doors will come off the travel agents hinges and the aircraft wont stop to take breath !:p