ttglive.com
Tui axes 30 staff in ski merger
MORE THAN 30 jobs are to go as Tui Travel merges its Ski and UK & Ireland Specialist divisions into a reformed Specialist Holiday Group (SHG). Staff based at its Kingston upon Thames and
Crawley offices are undergoing a 30-day consul- tation period on the job cuts which will affect IT, finance and online teams. The move comes after Tui merged the two divisions into a single unit headed by former ski managing director Mathew Prior in September. SHG now includes all the ski brands such as
Crystal, Thomson Ski and Flexiski, plus specialists such as Hayes & Jarvis, Sovereign and Jetsave. A Tui spokeswoman said the job cuts would not
affect product or call centre staff. She added that affected staff were having to
reapply for their positions where there was “duplication” in roles across the two divisions. Tui currently employs around 600 staff in the SHG division across the two sites, with 150 in Kingston and 450 in Crawley.
Hamburg Airlines ceases flying
GERMAN CHARTER carrier Hamburg Interna- tional Airlines has ceased flying after filing for insolvency. The company ran services to destinations such as Gambia, Cape Verde islands, Norway, Finland and the French ski gateway of Chambery. Hamburg was used by companies such as
Serenity Holidays, which runs both The Gambia Experience and The Cape Verde Experience, and niche cruise line Hurtigruten. Serenity had planned to use the airline for its winter services from Bristol and Stansted to the Gambia and Cape Verde. It is now sourcing another charter carrier for the flights.
news
EasyJet ponders end to boarding gate scrums
Chris Gray. EASYJET IS contemplating a move to allocated seating as part of a change in direction to make the airline more customer focused. The option would be a major change to the
airline’s business model and would end the scrum at boarding gates that puts off some customers from flying with the carrier. It is understood to be one of the options being discussed as a result of an assessment of the airline by management consultants BGC. Under the plans, customers would pay to choose their seats either to sit together or have extra leg room next to emergency exits. All seats would be allocated and customers who did not pay would be given what was left. The Speedy Boarding system, where passengers pay to board first, is likely to be scrapped. Other moves being discussed as part of the
review are a “softening” of the carrier’s position towards the trade. Details are expected to be released when new chief executive Carolyn Mc- Call reports easyJet’s full year results on November 16.
It will come as easyJet
reveals its plans to upgrade its holiday operation
easyjetholidays.com, which some in the trade be- lieve could make the airline the third largest tour operator in the industry (TTGOctober 10).
Ttglive.com revealed this week that Low Cost
Group has emerged as the frontrunner to join the venture, ahead of On Holiday Group. The move to allocated seating, improved trade
relations and the dramatically beefed up pack- age holiday operation will change the nature of the airline, according to aviation consultant John Strickland, who said: “Is easyJet on the way to becoming a mini-version of a traditional airline?” Strickland said the move would be popular with business and leisure passengers but had dangers for easyJet because it could make it more difficult to achieve its airport turnaround times because passengers would no longer rush to be first on board. EasyJet has been expanding the number of its leisure routes into traditional tour opera- tor territory, with the latest, Luxor, starting next week and it believes it rarely loses when it goes up against established operators. Julia Lo Bue Said, leisure director
at Advantage, said allocated seating would be welcomed by customers, although they would be wary of an- other charge. John Tangey, chairman of Aito’s
aviation committee, said easyJet could really help independent tour operators by selling them large allocations in advance.
An easyJet spokeswoman said the airline never commented on “rumours and speculation”.
Comment: ‘Easyjet moves will rebalance market’ Andrew Burnham, head of travel and tourism, MacIntyre Hudson
“A lot will unfold in the next six months. If easyJet branches out into accommodation, it could lead to a return of the “big four” because I think Monarch will also want to buy a bigger bed bank to add to Somewhere2stay. “This is not a time for the larger two organisa- tions to be sitting on their hands. I think other players will be looking at business opportunities to come into the market and compete with Tui
Hamburg International Airlines has filed for insolvency 29.10.2010 05
and Thomas Cook. “The industry could do with a couple of big
players coming onto the scene to counter balance the market. “We’ll start to see a pattern of mergers and acquisitions over the next 12-18 months, but the next six months will be critical; people will start huddling together to get through the winter.”
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