By Gordon Deegan
Sunway Travel boss Tanya Airey has confirmed the company’s losses are set to widen this year, due to the “double whammy” of this summer’s heatwave and technical problems related to the firm’s computer system.
Ms Airey said Sunway is on course to record losses in its current year in excess of the €458,976 pre-tax loss recorded for the 12 months to the end of last October.
Ms Airey blamed this summer’s domestic heatwave, along with “huge teething problems” related to the introduction of a new computer system for the company for the losses. She said the “double whammy” of the heatwave and the computer system glitches had made it the worst performing year for the company since it was established.
“The sun came out here and came out early and it didn’t go back in again. The hot summer was not good for us. A lot of people just skipped going on sun holidays this summer,” she said.
The poor demand in sun-breaks resulted in the company selling 30% to 40% of sun-breaks on flights booked late at a loss.
Ms Airey said the company was already trying to play catch-up as glitches in the newly introduced computer system hampered bookings in traditionally the busiest month of the year in January. She described the introduction of the new computer system as “a complete nightmare”.
“We have come out of it now and are better placed for next year. We had to bite the bullet on it.”
Ms Airey said the company has a strong balance sheet to withstand the losses of this year and last year.
A reduction in numbers travelling to Turkey and Tunisia in the aftermath of terrorist attacks also helped to pull Sunway into a loss last year.
