Airtours founder sells online car hire business
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Posted on: June 19th, 2008 by Samantha Williams
David Crossland, the founder of Airtours, is reported to be selling his online car hire company for approximately £25 million.
The online business, called TravelJigsaw, trades as Carhire3000.com and operates car hire businesses in central Europe, Australia and South Africa under more than 10 different brands. It is about to be bought out by ISIS, a private equity firm.
The Manchester-based company features online booking for all services and features a call centre that is open 24 hours every day, for customer service.
Airtours, run by managing director Greg Wills, launched its original website at the beginning of January, 2005. In April of that same year, the company’s second site was launched, a German-language website for the Austrian, German and Swiss consumer markets.
The company has grown to be one of Europe’s largest car hire brokers, with annual turnover up 86 per cent for the year 2007, at £37.3 million. Profits for the same year were listed at £2.2 million, up 373%.
Crossland made £150 million earlier from Airtours, which had begun as a single-office travel agency, located in Pendle, Lancashire, and eventually grew into one of the world’s largest travel firms.
www.carhire3000.com
