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annual turnovers ranging from £250,000 to £350 million. “There are some huge members there,” said Lewis. “The key is the trust account model, which has been championed by the CAA over the last three years.” He claimed: “The CAA model for Atol
Accredited Bodies is based on the TTA.” The group’s homeworker division, Independent Travel Experts, is part of TTA and has almost 60 members. High street consortium Worldchoice has 260 members, with turnovers ranging from £800,000 to £40 million a year, including Premier Travel with its chain of 20-odd outlets in East Anglia and the southeast. Worldchoice agents remain Abta members. An additional group of 34 Worldchoice Plus agencies trade under a group licence using TNG’s managed services arm. There is also a Worldchoice Ireland consortium of about 45 members. Lewis said: “We’re picking up new people. We’ve seen increases in Worldchoice and Worldchoice Plus, which grew by six members last year, and we had four or five new Worldchoice members.” TTA tends to attract start-up businesses so there is a churn in membership, with Lewis suggesting: “It has five to eight new members a month.” But overall TTA membership has grown
by almost 100 since 2007 and Lewis says the top-250 members have been with the group for five or more years. Now he believes the group can win
more recruits. Lewis said: “We champion the independent travel market. All our plans are in place. We are experts in Atol. We have a blue-chip marketing team, doing innovative things and capable of marketing on behalf of 800 businesses. “We have enough members to
engage with suppliers; we have an opportunity for members to transfer between businesses, and we have a level of expertise. “We have a story to tell and we’re going to raise our profile.” The group is run by a team of 60 staff
from a single office in Woking following the closure of the former Worldchoice head office in Peterborough in 2013.
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travelweekly.co.uk — 15 January 2015
travelweeklybusiness
AER LINGUS STOCK UP AS SHAREHOLDERS EXPECT IAG TO RETURN WITH THIRD OFFER
Ian Taylor
Aer Lingus rejected a revised takeover bid from British Airways’ parent International Airlines Group at the end of last week, but IAG boss Willie Walsh is expected to return with a higher offer. Walsh increased his initial bid, made in December and valuing Aer Lingus at €1.16 billion (£913 million), by just over 4% or €0.10 per share. An Aer Lingus shareholder suggested
Walsh would need to raise his offer by as much as 25% to succeed. Such a bid would value the Irish carrier at €1.6 billion (£1.25 billion). However, IAG said: “There can be no certainty that any further proposal or offer will be forthcoming.” Aer Lingus shares rose more than 10%
late last week in anticipation of a fresh bid. Ryanair is the biggest shareholder in Aer Lingus with a near 30% stake and the Irish government the second-biggest with 25%. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has repeatedly sought to buy Aer Lingus himself but been thwarted by the European Commission on competition grounds. Walsh formerly ran Aer Lingus – he
RYANAIR WINS SCREEN-SCRAPER CASE AGAINST OTA
Ryanair won the latest round of its continuing battle with online travel agents it accuses of screen-scraping when a German court ruled in its favour and against Spanish- based OTA eDreams last week. The Regional Court of Hamburg banned
eDreams from using the domain name
Ryanair.eDreams.de. It also banned eDreams from using the name in Google ads and ordered the agency to compensate Ryanair for trademark infringement. Ryanair pointed out it has no commercial
relationship with eDreams, which trades in the UK as
edreams.co.uk and was this week offering a full schedule of Ryanair fares. A Ryanair spokesman welcomed the judgment, saying: “EDreams has been using an unlawful subdomain and was misleading
Ryanair told court it has no commercial tie-up with eDreams
Walsh covets Aer Lingus’s 23 Heathrow slots
was chief executive from 2001 to 2005 – and will value the airline’s 23 pairs of slots at Heathrow, where it is the third- largest operator behind BA and Virgin Atlantic, as much as its transatlantic traffic and profitability. Aer Lingus reported a €61 million profit last year. Walsh has pursued a string of successful
mergers and acquisitions in the past five years, merging with Iberia to set up IAG in 2010-11, winning the battle to buy BMI from Lufthansa in 2012 and acquiring Barcelona-based Vueling in 2013.
customers into thinking it had an official partnership with Ryanair. “Ryanair will continue to pursue
screen-scraper websites such as eDreams to prevent consumers being misled over price and booking conditions. “We would urge customers to book
directly on the Ryanair site.” The carrier said it remains “engaged in
several legal cases against screen-scraper websites”.
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