SUNSET Holidays founders Phil Pattison and David Unwin have set up an in-bound seat-only operation from Tenerife for Club Travel 2000.
The pair, who sold Sunset in 1995 for ú40m, have been working on the project for almost a year as commercial manager and sales manager respectively. Both were barred from working for a UK originating operation for four years following the sale of Sunset to six venture capitalists who also formed Flying Colours Leisure Group.
The new operation, Flightcentre SA, will be aimed at expatriates and Spanish businessmen and has a first-year capacity of 10,000.
Club Travel 2000 sales and marketing director Ian Scott said it is unclear whether Pattison and Unwin will remain with the operation.
“They were brought in to set up Flightcentre and that is what they have done,” said Scott. “I don’t know how long they will stay as their families are still in the UK. It is something we will have to discuss with them.”
The ban precluding them from working in the UK ends in November this year but Scott said it was unlikely they could be found positions within Club Travel’s UK operation.
Flightcentre will operate from Playa de las Americas Tenerife and Puerto de la Cruz. It will sell seats on Air 2000, Air Europe and Spanair and is currently negotiating a contract with Monarch’s Crown service into Luton.