Remembering Airtours International

One of the new leisure airlines to emerge in the UK in the early 1990s was Airtours International.

Founded by Airtours Holidays to act as their in-house airline, Airtours International emerged at a time when the Inclusive Tour holiday market in Europe was still very strong, before the low-cost boom that would come around ten years later.

Rival airlines in the same market at the time included Britannia Airways, Air Europe, Dan-Air London and Air 2000.

Starting up with a fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-83 airliners in 1991, it grew quickly to become a big presence in the holiday market (where Air Europe and Dan-Air would soon fail).

Airtours was initially based at Manchester, but added hubs at regional airports all over the UK during its time of operation.

Soon it acquired secondhand Boeing 757s – some of the first airframes built, in fact. Later it would add Airbus A320s, Boeing 767-300s and McDonnell Douglas DC-10s.

Briefly, extra capacity was also brought in during the summer months. An Air New Zealand Boeing 747-200B was a highlight, during 1998.

In 1993 Airtours acquired rival Inter European Airways.

Airtours International Fleet

An Airtours Boeing 757 in the updated livery worn in the late 1990s. Photo (c) Simon Butler

As mentioned, Airtours International operated a varied fleet of types, some of which were aged, and some relatively new.

They featured a mix of aircraft to cater for different roles, such as short- and medium-haul routes across Europe, to long-haul and high density types capable of flying to the USA, Asia and Caribbean, as well as on the most popular European routes.

The airline also regularly brought in extra aircraft from Skyservice in Canada and the USA during the summer months, and sent their own aircraft in return during the winter months.

Here’s a fleet list of Airtours International

Airbus A320

C-FTDA, leased from Skyservice

C-FTDF, leased from Skyservice

C-GTDB, leased from Skyservice

C-GTDC, leased from Skyservice

C-GTDM, leased from Skyservice

G-COEZ

G-CRPH

G-DACR

G-DJAR

G-DRVE

G-FHAJ

G-HBAP

G-JANM

G-JDFW

G-JOEM

G-OZBB, leased from Monarch

G-RDVE

G-RRJE

G-SSAS

G-TICL

G-TMDP

G-TPTT

G-VCED

G-YJBM

Airbus A321-200

G-DHJH

G-JSJX

G-NIKO

G-VOLH

Airbus A330-200

G-CSJS

G-MDBD

G-MLJL

G-MOJO

Airbus A330-300

C-FBUS, leased from Skyservice

Boeing 737-400

OO-ILK, leased from Air Belgium

Boeing 747-200B

ZK-NZZ, leased from Air New Zealand

Boeing 757-200

G-CSVS

G-JALC

G-LCRC

G-MCEA

G-PIDS

G-RJGR

G-WJAN

Photo (c) Dean Morley

Boeing 767-300

G-DAJC

G-DIMB

G-SJMC

ZK-NCM, leased from Air New Zealand

McDonnell Douglas DC-10

G-BYDA

G-DPSP

G-TAOS

G-TDTW

N572SC, leased from Ryan International

McDonnell Douglas MD-83

G-COES

G-DCAC

G-DEVR

G-GMJM

G-HCRP

G-RJER

G-TONW

G-TTPT

OH-LMG, leased from Finnair

OH-LMU, leased from Finnair

OH-LMV, leased from Finnair

MyTravel Airways

Tomccoll, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

In 2002 Airtours International and its Danish partner Premiair we’re rebranded as MyTravel Airways.

The existing fleet was initially kept in the Airtours livery, with MyTravel stickers. Then a bright new livery introduced, of orange, blue and white. By this stage the Airtours International livery had become quite dated.

To counter the threat of low-cost carriers, an offshoot known as MyTravel Lite was launched in 2002 with Airbus A320s. It flew low cost scheduled services to popular holiday destinations, but was closed down and reintegrated a year later.

The End of MyTravel

Former Airtours and MyTravel Boeing 757-200 G-WJAN flying for Thomas Cook Airlines following the merger.

MyTravel disappeared in 2008 when it was merged with the Thomas Cook Group. Its fleet was mostly integrated into the new airline, known as Thomas Cook Airways.

Some of the older aircraft were disposed of in favour of newer Boeing 757s and Airbus A320/321 family aircraft.

Thomas Cook Airlines existed until bankruptcy caused its demise in 2019.

Did you ever fly with Airtours International? Leave a comment below!