Report by Tanya Jefferies
NEW STASTICS have confirmed that the Airtours group piled on
massive amounts of capacity last summer and is set to overtake Thomson as UK
market leader this year.
The Civil Aviation Authority reports that in Summer 2000,
Airtours owned Panorama Holiday Group generated a 67% rise in passenger sales to
135,300; Direct Holidays’ volumes rose by 46% to 337,600 and Airtours itself
recorded a 13% increase to 2.27 million.
Its main rivals, Thomson and JMC, were both down by 5%.
First Choice’s sales were flat, although its subsidiary Unijet managed a 4%
rise.
Meanwhile, the CAA’s licensed passenger capacity figures for
the year to September 2001 show the Airtours group poised to steal the top spot
from Thomson.