The group was founded under the
Airtours brand in 1972, when
David Crossland purchased a series of small
travel agencies in
Lancashire, United Kingdom. The group began operating package holidays and launched its own in-house charter airline, in the early 1990's. In 1993 Airtours purchased Aspro Holidays and their in-house airline
Inter European Airways. The aircraft were merged into Airtours International Airways and repainted in their livery. In 1994, Airtours purchased Scandinavian Leisure Group and in 1996 it bought Simon Spies Holding, a Danish rival. In 2002, Airtours Group plc, rebranded under the new company-wide banner of MyTravel Group plc. This included a name change for Airtours International and Premiair to MyTravel Airways. In November 2003, MyTravel sold off its North America Cruise Division to NLG (National Leisure Group) of
Woburn, Massachusetts. On 12 February 2007, MyTravel Group plc announced that they had agreed terms on a merger with
Thomas Cook AG to form
Thomas Cook Group plc. == Operations ==