UK's largest OTA adds more than one million seats to its Atol
Gary NoakesLoveholidays has signalled another huge leap in confidence, adding more than one million passengers to its Atol at the March renewal.
The OTA, licensed as We Love Holidays, is now authorised to carry just over four million passengers over the next 12 months, cementing its place as the UK’s biggest OTA and third-largest Atol-holder behind Jet2holidays and Tui.
Travel’s three main operators – Jet2holidays, Tui and easyJet holidays – renew their Atols at the autumn renewal in late September. Together, they account for just shy of 15 million Atol-protected seats. Loveholidays, which has traded for just a decade, accounted for 1.37 million Atol-protected sales pre-Covid.
The latest increase represents a near 200% increase on the pre-pandemic figure and a 39% rise on last year.
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It has attributed its rapid growth to its technology, £25 deposits and monthly instalment payments, arguing it is “democratising travel” and claiming to have more than double the hotel inventory of rivals.
Loveholidays plans to move into long-haul and city breaks, having concentrated on short-haul beach. It has previously ruled out working with the trade and earlier this year made peace with Ryanair, allowing Loveholidays’ customers to opt for Ryanair flights.
With the majority of travel’s big operators renewing their licences in September, the only other significant March renewal was On the Beach. In contrast to Loveholidays, On the Beach has shown caution, increasing its licence by only around 7.5%, from two million to 2.15 million.
Among the top 20 Atol holders, there is little other major movement, although Travel Counsellors has increased its licence from 139,000 to 151,000.
Brands that renew in September can increase their licence during the year, but most plan for the autumn renewal.
In September, Jet2 increased its Atol by 850,000 to 6.7 million. It estimates its new Liverpool base, which opened on 28 March, will account for almost 300,000 passengers, so this covers a substantial part of this increase, with the remainder spread around the operator’s other bases.
Further ahead, Jet2’s recently announced new Bournemouth base, which opens in summer 2025, will add another 150,000 passengers. No further bases are in the pipeline, Jet2 chief Steve Heapy told TTG last week.
Tui, meanwhile, which is another September renewal, sits at 5.86 million, although Marella Cruises adds another 337,000, making 6.2 million.
Compare this with 2019, when Tui headed the league with 5.7 million, followed by Jet2holidays (3.8 million) and Thomas Cook (2.5 million), whose capacity has now been almost replicated by easyJet holidays (2.3 million).
Tui did, however, on Wednesday (3 April) confirm it has put another 345,000 seats on sale for summer 2025, with extra capacity going into Exeter, Birmingham, East Midlands, Newcastle and Bournemouth,
On the Beach and Loveholidays (We Love Holidays) were top 10 players prior to the pandemic, but both were below the two million passenger mark then.
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Gary Noakes
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