MyTravel Airways Limited was a British scheduled and charter airline with headquarters in Manchester, England. It operated worldwide holiday charter services mainly for its parent company, the MyTravel Group. The airline merged with Thomas Cook Airlines UK Limited in 2008 and was renamed Thomas Cook Airlines Limited.

The airline was founded in 1990 as Airtours International Airways and was to be the in-house airline for Airtours Holidays, (Going Places Travel Agent). In 1993 they purchased Inter European Airways and the fleet was merged. In 2002 Airtours changed their brand name to MyTravel and therefore Airtours International Airways became MyTravel Airways. During 2007 the MyTravel Group agreed to merge with Thomas Cook AG, and on 30 March 2008, MyTravel Airways was fully integrated into Thomas Cook Airlines.

MyTravel Airways A/S was the Danish sister airline of MyTravel Airways, which was re-branded Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia on 8 May 2008.

History

thumb|left|[[DC-10 of Airtours International Airways.]]

The Airtours tour operating company was founded by David Crossland and established its own in-house airline, Airtours International Airways, on 1 October 1990. It started operations on 11 March 1991 flying McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft to destinations throughout Europe.

Cardiff-based Aspro Holidays and their inhouse airline, Inter European Airways, were acquired and integrated in November 1993 adding new aircraft types such as the Boeing 757 and Airbus A320 to the fleet. The MD83's were replaced in 1995–1996 with more Airbus A320s. In 1996 the parent company also acquired Danish charter airline Premiair. Airtours also had operations in Germany with airline FlyFTi,

Following the renaming of the Airtours Group to the MyTravel Group in February 2002, the Airtours International and Premiair operations were rebranded as MyTravel Airways with effect from 1 May 2002. In October 2002 MyTravel Airways launched its scheduled low-fare airline, MyTravelLite, but this was reintegrated in 2003. As of 2007, MyTravel Airways flew to the following destinations:

Africa

  • Egypt
  • Hurghada - Hurghada International Airport
  • Luxor - Luxor International Airport
  • Sharm El Sheikh - Sharm El Sheikh International Airport
  • Kenya
  • Mombasa - Moi International Airport
  • Morocco
  • Agadir - Agadir – Al Massira Airport
  • Tunisia
  • Djerba - Djerba–Zarzis International Airport
  • Monastir - Monastir Habib Bourguiba International Airport

Americas

  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Antigua - V. C. Bird International Airport
  • Brazil
  • Salvador de Bahia - Salvador International Airport
  • Canada
  • Toronto - Toronto Pearson International Airport
  • Vancouver - Vancouver International Airport
  • Barbados
  • Bridgetown - Grantley Adams International Airport
  • Cuba
  • Varadero - Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport
  • Dominican Republic
  • Puerto Plata - Gregorio Luperón International Airport
  • Punta Cana - Punta Cana International Airport
  • La Romana - La Romana International Airport
  • Cayman Islands
  • Grand Cayman - Owen Roberts International Airport
  • Jamaica
  • Montego Bay - Sangster International Airport
  • Mexico
  • Cancún - Cancún International Airport
  • United States
  • Las Vegas - McCarran International Airport
  • Orlando - Orlando Sanford International Airport

Asia

  • China
  • Beijing - Beijing Capital International Airport
  • Hong Kong - Hong Kong International Airport
  • Sanya - Sanya Phoenix International Airport
  • Shanghai - Shanghai Pudong International Airport
  • Cyprus
  • Larnaca - Larnaca International Airport
  • Paphos - Paphos International Airport
  • India
  • Goa - Dabolim Airport
  • Trivandrum - Trivandrum International Airport
  • Japan
  • Nagoya - Chubu Centrair International Airport
  • Osaka - Kansai International Airport
  • Tokyo - Narita International Airport
  • Maldives
  • Malé - Velana International Airport
  • South Korea
  • Seoul - Incheon International Airport
  • Taiwan
  • Taipei - Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
  • Turkey
  • Antalya - Antalya Airport
  • Bodrum - Milas–Bodrum Airport
  • Dalaman - Dalaman Airport

Europe

  • Austria
  • Salzburg - Salzburg Airport
  • Belgium
  • Brussels - Brussels Airport
  • Bulgaria
  • Burgas - Burgas Airport
  • Czech Republic
  • Prague - Václav Havel Airport Prague
  • Denmark
  • Copenhagen - Copenhagen Airport
  • Finland
  • Kittilä - Kittilä Airport
  • France
  • Grenoble - Alpes–Isère Airport
  • Germany
  • Düsseldorf - Düsseldorf Airport
  • Frankfurt - Frankfurt Airport
  • Hamburg - Hamburg Airport
  • Hannover - Hannover Airport
  • Munich - Munich Airport
  • Greece
  • Corfu - Corfu International Airport
  • Heraklion - Heraklion International Airport
  • Kalamata - Kalamata International Airport
  • Kefalonia - Kefalonia International Airport
  • Kos - Kos International Airport
  • Rhodes - Rhodes International Airport
  • Thessaloniki - Thessaloniki Airport
  • Zakynthos - Zakynthos International Airport
  • Hungary
  • Budapest - Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport
  • Italy
  • Naples - Naples International Airport** Olbia - Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport
  • Rimini - Federico Fellini International Airport
  • Malta
  • Luqa - Malta International Airport
  • Netherlands
  • Amsterdam - Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
  • Norway
  • Oslo - Oslo Airport, Gardermoen
  • Poland
  • Warsaw - Warsaw Chopin Airport
  • Portugal
  • Faro - Faro Airport
  • Romania
  • Bucharest - Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport
  • Russia
  • Moscow - Moscow Domodedovo Airport
  • Spain
  • Alicante - Alicante–Elche Airport
  • Almería - Almería Airport
  • Fuerteventura - Fuerteventura Airport
  • Girona - Girona–Costa Brava Airport
  • Gran Canaria - Gran Canaria Airport
  • Ibiza - Ibiza Airport
  • Lanzarote - Lanzarote Airport
  • Málaga - Málaga Airport
  • Menorca - Menorca Airport
  • Palma de Mallorca - Palma de Mallorca Airport
  • Reus - Reus Airport
  • Tenerife - Tenerife South Airport
  • Sweden
  • Stockholm - Stockholm Arlanda Airport
  • Switzerland
  • Zurich - Zurich Airport

Incidents

On 5 July 2007, a first officer who was not an employee but was paying MyTravel to gain flight experience on their aircraft (pay-to-fly) landed an Airbus A320 heavily at Kos airport in Greece, causing substantial damage to the main landing gear. The report was critical of both the pilot's training record and non-employees paying airlines to gain experience.

Fleet

Airtours was formed in 1990 and changed to MyTravel Airways in 2002 with the merger of Premiair. Since the formation of the airline as Airtours International Airways in 1990, until the merger with Thomas Cook in 2008, MyTravel Airways has operated the following aircraft types:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"

|+ Airtours International Airways and MyTravel Airways historical fleet

! Aircraft

! Operated

! From / to

|-

|Airbus A320-200

|align=center|34

|1993-2007

|-

|Airbus A321-200

|align=center|9

|1998-2007

|-

|Airbus A330-200

|align=center|4

|1999-2008

|-

|Airbus A330-300

|align=center|2

|2000-2008

|-

|Boeing 737-300

|align=center|1

|1998-1999

|-

|Boeing 737-800

|align=center|1

|2007-2007

|-

|Boeing 747-200

|align=center|1

|1998-1998

|-

|Boeing 757-200

|align=center|8

|1993-2006

|-

|Boeing 767-300

|align=center|3

|1994-2008

|-

|McDonnell Douglas DC-10

|align=center|4

|1998-2004

|-

|McDonnell Douglas MD-83

|align=center|14

|1990-1996

|-

!Total

!align=center|84

|

|}

Awards

MyTravel Airways achieved several punctuality awards between 2005 and 2007.

  • FlightOnTime.info Most Punctual UK Charter Airline - Summer 2006, Summer 2007 & Winter 2007/08
  • FlightOnTime.info Most Improved UK Charter Airline for Punctuality - Summer 2005 & Summer 2006
  • CAA Air Transport Users Council – Most Punctual UK Charter Airline – Winter 2005/2006

See also

  • List of defunct airlines of the United Kingdom

References

  • Civil Aviation Authority UK Airline Statistics for 2001 and 2005; total passengers carried by UK airlines. Table 0.1.6
  • Air-Britain Airline Fleets 2001 London, 2001. .
  • Air-Britain Airline Fleets 2005 London, 2005. .