The group was founded under the Airtours brand in 1972, when David Crossland purchased a series of small travel agencies in Lancashire, United Kingdom.

[2] The group began operating package holidays and launched its own in-house charter airline, in the early 1980s.

[3] In 1994, Airtours purchased Scandinavian Leisure Group and in 1996 it bought Simon Spies Holding, a Danish rival.

[5] In November 2003, MyTravel sold off its North America Cruise Division to NLG (National Leisure Group) of Woburn, Massachusetts.

[7] Dissolution (2014)[8] Rebranded to Thomas Cook Scheduled Tour Operations Limited (2008)[9] Dissolution (2015)[9] Sold to Red Label Vacations (2013)[11] Rebranded to Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia (2008)[7]