AIRTOURS has completed the purchase of long-haul operator and consolidator Jetset Europe for an undisclosed sum after several weeks of negotiations.
Travel Weekly first revealed talks were taking place between the two companies on November 29.
Former Jetset owner and managing director John Bond will stay on and the company’s 150 staff, mainly based in Manchester, will also be retained.
Bond said he had talked to several potential purchasers but chose Airtours because it had a history of acquiring specialists and allowing them to maintain their independence.
He said the purchase would put Jetset, which has an annual turnover of around £50m, on a secure footing and enable it to expand.
“There’s no sadness in the decision for me, because I wanted to grow the business,” said Bond.
“This deal will enable us to expand much more quickly.
“It will make life much easier because we’ll save a fortune on bonding and I personally won’t have to deal with so much administration.
“I can concentrate on strategy and developing the business, but I can’t talk about our expansion programme at the moment.”
Bond will report to Tradewinds MDMatthew Cheetham, who is responsible for several Airtours-owned subsidiaries.
Cheetham said Jetset’s flight consolidation business would be merged with Airtours’ Flightdeck operation and the Flightdeck name would probably disappear. “We’ve got a super brand name in Jetset,” said Cheetham.
“I’m reviewing the business over the next month but we expect scheduled holidays and long haul to grow in 2000 and we want to expand the company.”
Despite being a public company, Airtours does not have to reveal the sum paid for Jetset, because within the group it is not ‘deemed to be material.’