Big Four share of UK holiday capacity drops to under 50% - 05-Jul-04.

Big Four share of UK holiday capacity drops to under 50% - 05-Jul-04.: "The eight largest tour operators in the UK have cut capacity by 8% this year, in contrast to fierce growth from the two leading online retailers, which have together trebled their capacity.


According to statistics from the CAA for the current year the TUI Group and Thomas Cook Group have cut capacity by 4%, MyTravel Group has cut by 9% and First Choice Holidays Group by 17%. Cosmos has also cut by 4% this year, Trailfinders by 14% and Libra Holidays Group by 6%. The combined reduction in capacity of the eight groups, year-on-year, is 1.4 million passengers.


In stark contrast Lastminute Group has boosted capacity by 284% and the InterActive Corporation Group, which includes Expedia.com, has increased capacity by 147%. Together they have added 0.7 million passengers"