MyTravel Group plc was a British, global travel group headquartered in Rochdale, England. It was founded in 1972 as Airtours Group. The group included two in-house airlines, MyTravel Airways UK and MyTravel Airways Scandinavia, and various tour operators around the world. On 19 June 2007, the group merged with Thomas Cook AG to form the Thomas Cook Group plc, which entered Compulsory liquidation on 23 September 2019.
History
The group was founded under the Airtours brand in 1972, when David Crossland purchased a series of small travel agencies in Lancashire, United Kingdom. The group began operating package holidays and launched its own in-house charter airline, Airtours International Ltd. in late 1990.
In 1993 Airtours purchased Aspro Holidays and their in-house airline Inter European Airways. The aircraft were merged into Airtours International and repainted in their livery.
In 1994, Airtours purchased Scandinavian Leisure Group and in 1996 it bought Simon Spies Holding, a Danish rival.
In 2002, Airtours Group plc, rebranded under the new company-wide banner of MyTravel Group plc. This included a name change for Airtours International and Premiair to MyTravel Airways in February.
In November 2003, MyTravel sold off its North America Cruise Division to NLG (National Leisure Group) of Woburn, Massachusetts.
On 12 February 2007, MyTravel Group plc announced that they had agreed terms on a merger with Thomas Cook AG to form Thomas Cook Group plc. The airline operations were merged into Thomas Cook Airlines in March of the following year.
Operations
Tour Operators
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Name
!Country
!Fate
|-
|MyTravel Tour Operations Limited
|United Kingdom
|Merged into Thomas Cook Tour Operations
|-
|BCT Travel Group Limited
|United Kingdom
|Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007)
Dissolution (2015)
|-
|Tjæreborg
|Denmark<br/>Finland
|Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007)
|}
Airlines
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Airline
!Country
!Image
!Description
!Fate
|-
|MyTravel Airways Limited
|United Kingdom
|frameless|125x125px
|MyTravel Airways Limited was a British scheduled and charter airline, formerly known as Airtours International.
|Transferred to Thomas Cook Group (2007)