XL Leisure Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The XL Leisure Group (XLLG) is the fifth largest holiday company in the UK, with operations in the UK and, as of November 2006, also in France and Germany. XLLG will also be launching its brand in Ireland and Australia in the near future.
Contents |
[edit] Member companies
As of November 2006, the companies which form XLLG are as follows:
| Tour Operators | Airlines | Commercial |
|---|---|---|
| XL.com Kosmar Holidays Travel City Direct Freedom Flights XL Holidays Aspire Holidays CrystalTO Heliades |
XL Airways XL Airways France XL German Airlines Xtra Airways* Skywest* |
XL Aviation XL24 |
- XLLG holds significant interest in Xtra Airways and Skywest, although these airlines are managed independently.
[edit] XL.com
www.XL.com is the web portal and point of entry into XLLG, which aims to offer a 'supermarket style' method for selecting and booking elements of a tailor-made holiday. The slogan of XL.com is XL.com - your holiday starts here.
[edit] Kosmar Holidays
Kosmar is a leading British holiday brand offering package holidays to Greece and Turkey. Kosmar will offer holidays to Egypt, Bulgaria, The Balearics and The Canary Islands in 2007 and will become the package holiday provider of the group. Kosmar's slogan is Making Holiday Dreams Come True.....it's what Kosmar does best
[edit] Travel City Direct
Travel City Direct is one of the UK's leading holiday companies specialising in low-cost family holidays to Florida, other parts of the USA and the Caribbean. It offers cheap deals and flights are operated on behalf of Travel City Direct by XL Airways, using aircraft bearing 'dual-branded' liveries.
[edit] Freedom Flights
Freedom Flights is a seat-only tour operator which primarily sells airline seats to UK tour operators. The majority of its seats are with XLLG's own XL Airways, althought Freedom Flights also deal with seat sales on other airlines.
[edit] XL Holidays and Aspire Holidays
XL Holidays is the main tour-operating division of XLLG in the UK. It offers holidays worldwide and is fully ATOL bonded.
Aspire Holidays is a division of XL Holidays specialising in luxury bespoke holidays for the contemporary traveller on a high-end budget.
[edit] CrystalTO and Heliades
CrystalTO is a French Tour Operator fully affiliated to XL Airways France, offering French Holiday Makers a range of package holidays worldwide. Heliades is also a popular tour operator in France, specialising primarily in holidays to Greece.
[edit] XL Airways
XL Airways is a charter airline with brands in the UK, France and Germany. It began as Sabre Airways in 1994 and was renamed Excel Airways in 2001. It was later rebranded XL Airways in November 2006 after it was found that the airline was more commonly known by the British public as simply XL Airways. Following the acquisition of the French and German airlines Star Airlines and Star Europe, XLLG rebranded these as XL Airways France and XL Airways Germany in Novermber 2006, creating a pan-European airline consisting of at least 34 Boeing and Airbus aircraft.
Excel Airways was voted the 'World's Leading Charter Airline' in 2004 and 2005.
[edit] Interests in Xtra Airways and Skywest
Established in 1987, Xtra Airways is a charter airline based in Nevada, USA. It now has bases at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport,Louisville, KY, New York (JFK)and Boston. It is owned by CXP management, although XLLG hold a 19% share of the airline. Prior to XLLG's acquisition of 19% interest in Xtra Airways in summer 2005, the airline was known as Casino Express. The rebranding to Xtra Airways reflects a close relationship between Xtra and XL, which also includes similar aircraft liveries.
Skywest is an Australian regional airline, which began operations in 1963 as part of Ansett Airlines. It is now owned by Advent Air, in which XLLG hold a 5% share.
[edit] XL Aviation and XL24
XL Aviation is the Commercial Sales arm of XLLG. It sells charter capacity on flights operated by XL Airways and also buys and sell Charter capacity on numerous other airlines worldwide.
XL24 is a leading dealer in 'relief' aircraft in the airline to airline market, specialising in provided sub-chartered aircraft from the XL Airways and other fleets to other airlines who require the extra capacity at short notice.
