Thomas Cook has ended its commercial agreement with Jet2holidays.
Cook served notice to the Leeds-based airline and operator on Monday, Travel Weekly understands.
The ending of agreement means Jet2holidays packages will no longer be offered for sale in any of Cook’s 790 shops.
It’s understood sales are due to be phased out during this month but have been minimal since notice was served.
Rival Tui ended its commercial agreement with Jet2holidays in December last year, also removing the operator’s product from its Thomson and First Choice stores.
Jet2’s rapid expansion has seen it close in on the ‘big two’ with November Atol figures showing that it is licensed to carry 2.27 million passengers – 45% more than its previous Atol and only 263,000 fewer than Cook.
In July, its airline arm Jet2.com unveiled a base in Birmingham and in September revealed a significant programme out of Stansted.
The airline already flies out of Belfast International, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle.
Chief executive of Jet2.com and Jet2Holidays, Steve Heapy, said: “It’s not unexpected that Thomas Cook has ceased to sell Jet2holidays as a result if its in-house distribution strategy.
“Our focus has and always will be independent travel agents. At Jet2holidays we are committed to further increasing our support for independents with even more joint marketing activity and expanding our field sales team.
“There is now a fantastic opportunity for our independent retail partners to grow their business with us.
“They are now the only place on the high street where people can book our award winning package holidays, offering an unrivalled product including: £60 deposit, 22kgs baggage allowance, transfers included on all beach holidays, free resort flight check in at selected hotels, infants go free on all holidays and thousands of free child places.
“Why would any customer want to look any further than their local independent travel agent?”
A Thomas Cook spokesperson said: “This is about Thomas Cook increasing its focus on our own holiday offering.
“We’ve consistently said that by concentrating on our own-brand hotels and resorts, along with a portfolio of carefully selected partner hotels, we can ensure that our customers receive the best quality and service during the most important weeks of their year.
“We believe we have the best holidays on the market and we know our customers buy more of our own holidays from us than anything else.”