| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 10/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 5 |
| Copyright: Other |
Operators’ statements on sales backed up by official figures
Downward trend continues
CAA confirms poor summer bookings
Report by PAUL NORRIS
FEARS that operators face a poor summer for bookings have been backed up by the latest figures from the Civil Aviation Authority.The CAA, in its July 2000 issue of Air Travel Organiser’s Licence Business, confirmed capacity had risen over last summer but revealed bookings so far were poor. The revelation on slow sales supports statements by JMC and Thomas Cook in last week’s Travel Weekly.
Director of the CAA’s consumer protection group Helen Simpson said the level of summer bookings was still unknown but sales took a hit last month and the trend is continuing this month.
“There has certainly been a Euro 2000 effect, depressing bookings and early-season carryings,” she said.
“The outlook for summer is never very clear when licensed capacity is calculated so early in the summer. Licence authorisations suggest the increase in capacity in summer 2000 will be similar to that last year.”
Capacity from operators is up 1m passengers over summer 1999, equivalent to a 5.8% rise. The ATOLfigures show that Airtours and Thomson have 16% of the summer capacity each. The top four operators, which also includes JMC and First Choice, control 56% of the market covered by ATOLs – the same as last summer.
Operators have already reacted to the threat of a downturn in sales over the next few weeks. Airtours has launched an autumn offer with cut-price holidays.
The CAA also revealed that the downturn in summer sales follows a flat winter.
Some 9.6m passengers were protected by the ATOL scheme in winter 1999/2000. This compared to a similar figure the previous winter. Increases in carryings in past seasons have been on average about 10%.
The authority said disappointing millennium bookings were to blame for the slump. Prices were 3% up on 1998/99.
The CAA’s disclosure on winter bookings corresponds with poor reported sales from Thomson, First Choice and Neilson.
Empty beaches: early-season carryings and Euro 2000 have contributed to a fairly flat summer season so far