industry travel founded 1961 headquarters bromley united kingdom key people richard francis managing director 1 services package holidays flights and accommodation parent monarch holdings ltd website http www.monarch.co.uk holidays monarch holidays formerly cosmos holidays is a uk independent tour operator which provides package holidays flight only and accommodation products to uk customers . the tour operator is an owned subsidiary of monarch holdings ltd formerly owned by globus travel group it was sold to greybull capital in october 2014 . 2 cosmos holidays was originally founded in 1961 as cosmos tours . in later became cosmos holidays in 1987 . cosmos holidays had been in operation for over 50 years and provides a choice of holidays from ten uk airports to 60 worldwide destinations . annually 850 000 return passengers within the mass market sector buy a holiday from cosmos holidays and monarch s holiday brands . 3 the company was renamed monarch holidays in 2015 . contents 1 background 1.1 destinations 2 history 2.1 cosmos tours 1961 1986 2.2 expansion 1987 2009 2.3 recent history 2010 2015 3 awards 4 references 5 external links background edit the tour operator is an owned subsidiary of monarch holdings ltd formerly owned by globus travel group and sold to greybull capital in october 2014 . 2 the group has a number of other subsidiaries including monarch airlines monarch aircraft engineering avro and somewhere2stay . monarch holdings was 100 % owned by the globus travel group . destinations edit monarch holidays provides packages to over 60 countries flying from five uk airports . over 900 000 customers use their services annually . 4 the holiday provider originally started providing beach holiday deals for uk consumers to european destinations . the company still has a major presence in europe but has expanded in recent years to offer global destinations including the caribbean egypt florida goa lapland the maldives mexico and sri lanka . 4 history edit cosmos tours 1961 1986 edit globus a group that was originally established in 1928 launched cosmos tours in 1961 . the package company was created to provide value priced european touring for the cost conscious british traveller . the company initially focused on coach tours before beginning to offer air holiday packages . 5 in 1968 the success of the company s air package holidays allowed cosmos to form the airline monarch airlines . 6 7 expansion 1987 2009 edit in 1987 the company changed their name from cosmos tours to cosmos holidays . in september 1991 the company acquired avro plc a flight only company set up by paul dendle he sold 80 % to the globus group swiss based company owned by the mantagazza family of lugarno that owned monarch & cosmos this acquisition was an attempt to enhance its charter seat only presence in the market.in 1994 the globus group acquired the remaining 20 % from paul dendle . in 2002 cosmos launched an accommodation only brand somewhere2stay which supplied hotel apartment and villa accommodation to the uk travel trade . four years after launching somewhere2stay sales made up 20 million 40 million of an estimated 300 million 350 million turnover in the accommodation only sector . during 2006 the decision was made to run somewhere2stay separately from cosmos holidays . 8 in 2007 cosmos announced they would introduce package holidays with monarch s full range of scheduled flights . this was in line with expansion plans announced by monarch during the same year . 9 in 2009 the company was regarded as the uk s largest independent tour operator . in the same year the company announced it would be migrating its critical tour operation system to a linux operating system using micro focus server express and micro focus server for cobol . 10 later that year cosmos holidays received the award for best short haul operator from the travel trade gazette ttg . 11 executive chairman iain rawlinson announced in 2009 he was planning to reinvent the company as a scheduled carrier after the company made financial losses . it was predicted at the time that the parent company of cosmos holidays would make a loss of around 45 million . during the same year media coverage had suggested there were problems with their approach . 12 the mantegazza family from switzerland which had owned group voyagers since its foundation invested money into the group to cover the losses . 13 recent history 2010 2015 edit in 2011 cosmos celebrated its 50th anniversary in the travel industry . the company used the celebration to launch new marketing material and refresh the brand with a new look . this marketing campaign included doubling the number of brochures being sent to agents for the post christmas booking season . 14 as part of the company s anniversary they also announced their largest number of greek holidays with a wider range of destinations in the ionian sporades dodecanese and the cyclades islands . 15 there was further expansion during the same year when cosmos announced expansion of its florida summer holiday packages offering departures from five uk airports . 16 the company s third expansion in the same year came when holidays 4u collapsed and cosmos added extra flights to cover customer demand . 17 in 2012 cosmos added flights from manchester birmingham and east midlands airports as part of sister company monarch s expansion . 18 in april 2013 cosmos holidays and avro flights launched a range of holidays and flights from glasgow to the balearic island of mallorca on peak season summer dates to meet the extra demand for regional flying . 19 in september 2013 the company announced that they would further expand their operations by diversifying away from beach holidays that they had traditionally offered . these destinations included munich friedrichshafen grenoble and innsbruck a ski programme was introduce to support these routes . cosmos also planned to offer short breaks to rome milan verona and venice using monarch flights . 20 in 2014 monarch travel group cosmos holidays parent company was sold to greybull capital . from october 2015 cosmos was renamed monarch holidays . 21 awards edit travel trade gazette short haul operator 2007 11 references edit key personnel . monarch . retrieved 16 april 2015 . a b http uk.reuters.com article 2014 10 25 uk monarch m a greybull idukkcn0ie09n20141025 group corporate about us . monarch . retrieved 2012 10 20 . a b destinations . cosmos holidays . retrieved 12 september 2013 . collective sessions . globus family of brands offers budget as well as premium tours . group voyagers . retrieved 2012 10 20 . world airline directory 1968 . flight international . march 1968 . the 40 year old start up monarch airlines maslen r. in airliner world july 2008 key publishing stamford 2008 p. 32 cosmos to run somewhere2stay as separate business . travel weekly . retrieved 12 september 2013 . monarch unveils 2007 expansion plans . travelmole . retrieved 12 september 2013 . cosmos holidays cuts it costs by 40 % with micro focus server express . business standard . retrieved 12 september 2013 . a b 2008 news archive holidays cosmos wins top travel award holidays news . cosmos . retrieved 2012 10 20 . lack of retail shops remains achilles heel for cosmos . travolution . retrieved 12 september 2013 . ben marlow 2011 10 30 . swiss billionaires bail out ailing monarch again . the sunday times . retrieved 2012 10 20 . griffiths sophie 2011 12 15 . cosmos plans a total refresh before 2012 news travel trade gazette . ttgdigital.com . retrieved 2012 10 20 . 2011 news holidays cosmos launches biggest ever greece holidays programme holidays news . cosmos . 2011 11 30 . retrieved 2012 10 20 . orlando s back from cardiff . cardiff airport . retrieved 12 september 2013 . cosmos adds turkey flights following holidays 4 u collapse . ttg digitial . retrieved 12 september 2013 . monarch airlines launch new scheduled flights from leeds bradford international airport . leeds bradford airport . retrieved 12 september 2013 . cosmos & avro expand glasgow departures for peak summer season . travel bulletin . retrieved 12 september 2013 . cosmos to move beyond beach holidays . travelmole . retrieved 12 september 2013 . http www.monarch.co.uk offers holidays cosmos holidays is now monarch external links edit official website monarch official website cosmos u.s. tours website v t e tourism in the united kingdom tourism economy of the united kingdom nations and regions england hotels in england lists of tourist attractions in england list of national trust land in england list of national trust properties in england london tourist board resorts in england tourism in leeds tourism in london tourism in yorkshire visitengland welcome to yorkshire northern ireland hotels in northern ireland list of museums in northern ireland nature reserves in northern ireland list of tourist attractions in ireland list of national trust properties in northern ireland northern ireland tourist board scotland lanarkshire area tourism partnership minister for energy enterprise and tourism resorts in scotland scotlandwhisky scottish youth hostels association visitscotland visitscotland.com wales capital region tourism forgotten landscapes project list of museums in wales south west wales tourism partnership tourism partnership north wales visit wales companies current ace cultural tours alan rogers travel group carnival corporation & plc cunard line city sightseeing cosmos holidays cox & kings ebookers.com ffestiniog travel flight centre great rail journeys hays travel hogg robinson group holidaybreak nst holidayextras.com kuoni travel lastminute.com martin randall travel pgl superbreak swan hellenic thomas cook group club 18 30 netflights tui group thomson holidays trailfinders traveleyes turquoise holidays wilderness journeys defunct clarksons travel group court line directline holidays easycruise first choice horizon travel kiss flights lunn poly mark hammerton mytravel palmair thomas cook & son xl leisure group organisations camping and caravanning club the caravan club national trust for places of historic interest or natural beauty youth hostels association industry bodies association of british travel agents association of independent tour operators british resort inspection agency confederation of tourism and hospitality tourism concern visitbritain tourist destinations blue badge tourist guide holiday les routiers list of airlines of the united kingdom list of airports in the united kingdom and the british crown dependencies list of museums in the united kingdom list of amusement parks in the united kingdom list of past and present youth hostels in england and wales category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title monarch holidays & oldid 714943854 categories group voyagerstravel and holiday companies of the united kingdomcompanies established in 1961companies based in bromley navigation menu 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