A brief look back in Time
The History of Thomson Travel Group & Britannia Airways
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letstalk@holiday4.comIn this article, Holiday4 takes a 'step back in time' to discover how Thomson Holidays and Britannia Airways were formed.
A Brief History of Thomson Holidays & Britannia Airways
The Thomson Travel Group (TTG) was a highly successful UK travel agency, charter airline & package holiday provider and cruise line operator. The company was formed by the Thomson Corporation of Canada back in 1965, after the acquisition of four independent UK tour operators, Gaytours, Luxitours, Riviera and Skytours (conveniently, Skytours came with its own airline Britannia Airways - formerly known as Euravia, founded in 1961).
Britannia Airways played an important role in the success of the newly formed Thomson Travel Group, and in 1970 the business was re-launched as "Thomson Holidays". In the early 1970s, Thomson Holidays were offering two weeks in the sun flying from Manchester (with hotel and board included) for under £50 per person.
Thomson Holidays 1980s
During the 1980s (and with the support of independent British Travel Agents), Thomson Holidays and sister company Skytours became two of the UK's largest and most successful package tour operators. During this period, Britannia was one of the first holiday airlines to sell 'seat only' fares on its package holiday routes - which helped the pioneering airline become one of Europe's largest and most successful charter carriers.
The Thomson Travel Group was floated on the London Stock Exchange in May 1998 with a valuation of 1.7 billion pounds. See this article on early package tour operations.
Thomson Travel Group acuired by Preussag AG
At the turn of the millennium, the Thomson Travel brand dominated the UK travel industry and in 2000, the group was acquired by German-owned Preussag AG, an industrial and transportation conglomerate based in Berlin, with origins dating back over 75 years.
Preussag AG involvement in travel and tourism started in 1997 with the acquisition of one of Germany’s leading tourism companies Hapag-Lloyd. From 1997 onwards, the company acquired several leading European tourism businesses, including Fritidsresor and Nouvelles Frontières - plus involvements in hotel groups RIU and Magic Life.
The start of TUI AG - and its merger with First Choice Holidays PLC
In 2002 the travel arm of Preussag AG became known as TUI - and in 2007, the tour operating businesses of TUI AG merged with UK-listed First Choice Holidays PLC to form TUI Travel - one of Europe's largest tour operations.
Soon after its merger with Preussag AG in 2002, the Britannia Airways name was dropped and replaced with Thomson Airways (Thomsonfly). With a change of name - came the addition of a new blue and red livery in keeping with other TUI carriers. In 2017 the names Thomson Holidays and Thomson Airways were fully retired, and the company started trading as TUI UK, with Thomson Cruises rebranded as Marella Cruises. With the current rebranding now complete, the name TUI has become one of the world's leading and most recognised international travel brands.