Summer 2010 charters

[lplflyer]

Just got hold of a Holidays 4U brochure and it appears that the Liverpool flights have been ditched.

Please, anyone, correct me if wrong, but I am guessing that will now only leave the Goldtrail weekly Turkey flights for Summer 2010 as our only remaining regular charters?

[Fox Echo]

The heyday of the charter operators is long gone and they are now in serious decline, with consolidation and overall fleet reductions, a pattern which I suspect will only continue. In 2008 charters accounted for only around 12% of UK passengers, down from 14% in 2007.

Clearly much of the growth at LPL has been at the expense of the charter operators in the region and it is hard to see this situation changing, particularly with the planned baseing of further aircraft shortly. I don't think we should be unduly concerned if regular charter flights disappear altogether, the marketplace has simply changed as travellers take advantage of the savings available by using the locos and putting their own package together.

[andyh]

Fox Echo, whilst you are right in some respects 14% is a significant number of passengers. Manchester's share is something like 6 million passengers a year - I'm sure we wouldn't turn down 10% of that? There will always be a fair number of people who want everything taken care of for them and so will choose a package deal. It's ridiculous that we are reduced to just a couple of charters a week for next year - bring back Direct Holidays!!!

[Deleted]

Unfortunately, the likes of Direct Holidays could be a thing of the past. The air-package holiday industry, which originated at LJLA, is fast becoming a niesh market. As andyh said, there will always be a market for those who don't want to take a DIY holiday. However, this will be few and far between in the near future. As its extremely expensive to switch airport operations, in the near future the market will remain entrenched within the major airports currently hosting them. Regrettably, those companies wishing to survive within the industry will be forced to make the agonising decision to increase costs in the short term by moving their operations to a low cost airport like LJLA, or face bankruptcy. So, don't write off LJLA as a package holiday airport just yet.

[ronturner]

From a customer's point of view..

There is no doubt that the advent of cheap convenient travel changed the way I went on holiday. However, the low cost operators are not so low cost anymore, certainly not as convenient by the time I have been forced to print my own boarding and pay a fee for it...turn up at the airport without something and pay £40..so I welcome again the idea of a package where I can buy just that, and not have to worry. (Takes me back to Cathedral Touring Agency, Arrowsmith, Clarkson, Horizon, Thomson, First Choice and the like.) I think the tour operators will be in business for a long time yet, even at a reduced level from their heydays.

[davel]

It's been reported by Co-op travel that they are getting 30% of their business now via the Lo-cost operators. The margin between package and Lo-cost seems to be narrowing.
The FoLA website has many tour operators listed who will organize a bonded package holiday via LPL with Lo-cost carriers, taking the worry of problems usually associated with bookings made by yourself on line.

[harbourcotter]

I'm certainly not sure that the cost of package holidays against locos is narrowing.

I recently spent a week fully inclusive to lanzarote. The flights with EZY and hotel cost a total of £220. A mere £110 each. There was also an additional charge of £18.00p for transport to/from the Hotel. The hotel when I arrived was almost exclusively for the use of SUNSET holiday customers. The brochure price for the same week was a staggering £467 EACH. If you booked late you also had to pay additional transportation to/from the hotel. One of the couples also had to pay £100 excess on their luggage.

Therefore by booking it myself and using locos through Liverpool I saved a (minimum) total of £694.00p over passengers who used Sunset from Manchester. No contest really. No wonder the profit margins of holiday companies is holding up.

[Fox Echo]

Dec 2, 2009 9:45:21 GMT 1 davel said:

It's been reported by Co-op travel that they are getting 30% of their business now via the Lo-cost operators. The margin between package and Lo-cost seems to be narrowing.

I don't consider these "hybrid" packages as true packages in the traditional sense. After all, neither easyJet or Ryanair pay commission to retail travel shops, so it appears that Co-op and others are using simply locos to provide the flight element as a means of reducing the cost to the punter, thus enabling them to still cling on to their high street business from the commission they receive on the remaining elements, namely hotel bookings, travel insurance, car hire commission & foreign currency margins.

The advantages of being on a bonded holiday are starting to look
quite dubious. Many XL customers were stranded for a long time before being repatriated and others waited many months for refunds. that collapse left the bonding scheme broke, which means customers will soon be paying around £2.50 each for future bonding. It make more sense simply to pay by credit card for trips costing over £100 to guarantee your refund if things go wrong.