AIRTOURS has accused the European Commission of mishandling the investigation into its proposed acquisition of First Choice.
The attack came after competition authorities blocked any re-bid for the Crawley operator after an exhaustive five-month investigation.
Group finance director Tim Byrne said the EC showed no willingness to make the deal work despite an offer to create a fourth vertically integrated company with a 10% market share.
“When you have two sides talking about a £1bn deal you meet in the middle. This was one sided,” said Byrne. “We worked in the dark and hadlittle idea of what was needed.
“There were intimations about what we should do, but when we returned with a new offer they said it was not enough. This was about the EC wanting to display its power.”
He said information was leaking out but official communication was thin on the ground. It is highly unlikely that Airtours will appeal to the European Court.
Brussels ruled any deal would lead to collective dominance with three companies controlling 80% of the package holiday market.
European competition commissioner Mario Monti added: “Any fourth force would not have its own travel agency network and would be dependent on its competitors for distribution.”
A merger would also cut charter capacity for independents, he said.
Airtours chairman David Crossland added: “It is disappointing the merger task force were unwilling to recognise the competitiveness of the UK tour-operating industry or come to any compromise arrangement with us.”
The Association of Independent Tour Operators said the decision was excellent news for the independent sector.
Meanwhile, First Choice chairman Ian Clubb denied he had influenced the EC decision, insisting he gave only factual answers during the ECinvestigation.
“Opinions didn’t come into it,” he said. “The reason we suggested shareholders go for the Kuoni deal was because our lawyers said the Airtours deal would be blocked. We said that from day one.”