UK charter holiday operator Sunsail has announced that it is to close its Sunsail Business Travel operation effective from October 26, and has announced 16 redundancies from its business and charter operations in the UK. The news comes a week after First Choice, Sunsail’s parent company, announced that it was to cut 1,100 jobs across the group.

A statement released by First Choice today states that: “The action has been taken to ensure that all companies within the group are fully prepared to handle any potential downturn in bookings as a result of the events of September 11 and the subsequent military action.

As far as Sunsail is concerned, the same strategy applies and although bookings to the end of this season and through the winter to long haul destinations are strong, the Caribbean and Tortola have suffered from a delay in US customers booking their vacations.

The job losses within Sunsail in the UK are as a result of increasing focus on our core business. They have not been made in areas that will affect the holidays of clients sailing with Sunsail or Stardust, now or in the future. Other changes are aimed at being short term and are targeted where it is anticipated traffic will be a lot less, e.g. the Caribbean and Tortola.”

In conjunction with the USA downturn, Sunsail says it has decided to review all recruitment allied to the acquisition of Stardust until the full extent of the downturn can be established.