Cosmos cuts prices through trade
Prices of Cosmos holidays are going to be cut by 5% through the trade from today as parent, The Monarch Group, announces a return to profitability.
It will not result in ‘price parity’ between agents and Cosmos’ website but the tour operator hopes it will make its package holidays more competitive. Direct bookings will still be 8-10% cheaper.
"We want to be competing effectively against other packages," said Gary Anslow, sales director of The Monarch Travel Group.
It comes as agent commission is set at a flat rate of 10%, with ‘the chance to earn more’.
The cost cutting will not be completely funded by the commission realignment so Cosmos will ‘put a bit in’.
Following a two year turnaround plan, The Monarch Group reported revenues up 11.7% to £763.2m for Monarch Airlines, 15.4% to £336.4m for its tour operations, Cosmos, Avro and somewhere2stay and 24.2% to £107.2 for its aircraft engineering arm in its year end results.
The travel firm said the results were achieved through cost cutting and improved efficiencies but not redundancies.
It is about to launch an Monarch Airlines ad campaign is to reinforce its core ‘customer service’ message and ‘play to its strengths’ at a time when it believes flight passengers are looking at more than just price.
‘Local heros’ – regional Monarch Airline employees with a real customer service story to tell – will be featured in regional press and as part of an online push including Facebook and Twitter.
The company will also be working with various consortia on individual campaigns for agents in January and February.
Executive chairman Iain Rawlinson, said: "We’re well known but have not been as visible."
Online sales account for about two thirds of bookings with Rawlinson adding that selling 30% of packaged holidays through the trade is about right.
The travel company puts its package holiday success down to being able to be competitive on price and flexible due to having its own airline as well as customer service through initiatives like its Cosmos concierge which talks to holidaymakers pre, post and during a holiday.
Monarch airlines will also be more competitive as it comes to the end of a long tender and plans to buy new aircraft in early 2014.
Rawlinson added: "Because of our history, we were mostly charter driven and have tolerated inefficiencies but we will not have them in the future.
"We will have directly comparable unit costs to our peer group – namely easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling and Norwegian."
A new managing director of Monarch Airlines is expected to be announced in January 2014.
Diane
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