EDITOR’S COMMENTS
NEWS Hot Stories
04 – Monarch praises trade support during takeover; Bath Travel shops get £3m revamp; Midcounties ‘here to stay’; Virgin will seek to partner on Little Red routes; Abta launches consumer campaign at WTM
News Digest
08 – Alitalia to axe jobs; Celebrity scheme a hit; Thomson strike threat
Special Report 10 – Monarch deal signals new era
Analysis 13 – Confidence hits new heights
Big Interviews 14 – Andy Freeth, Travel 2 16 – Saad Hammad, Flybe
NEWS YOU CAN USE
Product News 19 – Miss Moneycard launches
Operator News
20 – Trafalgar hires new sales team 22 – Somak unveils new website
Technology News 24 – Google reveals report results
Cruise News 26 – Carnival launches ‘TV show’ 28 – Celebrity goes on sale early
ALL ABOUT YOU
Letters 30 – Flybe, Monarch, Tui, bill plan
Comment 32 – Giles Hawke, MSC Cruises
All For You 34 – Dubai, France, Abu Dhabi trips
Readers’ Lives
36 – Hannah Vincent, Select World Travel, Poole, Dorset
Mystery Shopper 40 – Hertfordshire agents search for Mexican getaway
DESTINATIONS
22-page PREVIEW SPECIAL page 43
World Travel Market Preview
43 – Stay on top of the action with our guide to events at WTM 53 – Take a world tour and find out what to expect on the stands
JOBS AND CLASSIFIED
65 – Vacancies and business services TRAVELWEEKLY BUSINESS
News
70 – EasyJet boss Carolyn McCall at Travel Weekly Business Lunch
LUCY Editor-in-chief HUXLEY
Agents are vital to Monarch’s future
T
he last time a major leisure airline collapsed in the UK, chaos ensued and tears were shed, not least by the man at the helm, Phil Wyatt, during a press conference. XL Leisure Group’s failure in 2008 saw important trade
brands disappear overnight, but none with the sort of heritage and affection among its trade partners or the general public as Monarch.
I suspect had the worst happened last week and the airline not secured a rescue deal there would have been a much more widespread outpouring of grief in the trade. Business is business and Monarch, and its tour operation
Cosmos, is not everyone’s cup of tea: some of its commercial decisions rile agents (Letters, page 30). But, as became clear in the process to sell Monarch, here was a company fighting for its very survival at the sharp end of a sector of the aviation industry fraught with risk. So, sacrifices had to be made by Monarch management and
staff, employees in its pension scheme and the Mantegazza family that has owned it for three generations. It was either accept the pain – or the company would ceased to exist. News of the deal being clinched last Friday even prompted cheers from 200 soon-to-be-redundant employees at a leaving party, which says a lot about the company. Similar relief will have been felt by those agents who stayed
up late on Friday nervously awaiting confirmation of the rescue as the half-term getaway loomed. Thankfully, chaos was averted and Monarch entered a new era – one that, according to boss Andrew Swaffield, agents will be vital in shaping.
lucy.huxley@
travelweekly.co.uk WHAT LUCY DID THISWEEK 1
2 3
Toured the site of new children’s attraction KidZania at Westfield Shopping Centre in west London.
Joined agents from Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast and Exeter at London City airport for Flybe’s launch of services to the regions.
Squeezed as many appointments as possible into my diary for WTM – it’s going to be a busy week!
30 October 2014 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 3
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