ALL THE Airtours big guns turned out last weekend to bid a fond – well, fond-ish – farewell to group managing director Richard Dupuis who has decided to tend his garden after 35 long years at Bridge Travel.
Among the assorted gathering in Paris to mark his retirement was Airtours chairman David Crossland, who welcomed Bridge into the happy Airtours family back in 1998.
But from what Backchat learned, it was something of a triumph that Dupuis knew who Crossland was.
Before the formalities began, Backchat cornered Dupuis for a few words. He spoke with passion about his early days at Bridge, of the growth of the coach/air business and how he thought Amsterdam would never take off as a short-break destination.
He also insisted that he and his team continued to work as an independent business.
Two hours later we found out why – he simply ignored Airtours.
“Richard was probably the only man who joined the Airtours group and did not realise he had joined us,” confirmed Airtours UK Leisure Group chief executive Peter Rothwell during a speech at the bash.
He said: “He was clearly not well known in Manchester. One of the few times that he came up to see us he was almost ejected from the building by my personal assistant who had absolutely no idea who he was.”
Rothwell also revealed how Dupuis’ seat at an Airtours’ board meetings was regularly vacant.
“He would go on about the transport difficulties of being based in Broxbourne and about how poor the flight connections were. Richard told me this on several occasions,” said Rothwell.
Turning to new MD Brian Fell, Rothwell added: “I shall now have to learn how not to communicate with Brian.”
Dupuis was next to speak. And true to form, he just ignored Rothwell’s comments.
The speeches offered a welcome respite to the three-piece band which played old time music during the meal.
When the band finished, Dupuis and colleagues took up the instruments but only to pose for a few light-hearted photographs.
Some in the audience thought they would have been better than the real thing.