Barrhead spreads its wings with US foray

HOLIDAY firm Barrhead Travel is to sell flights to American customers five years after an aborted attempt to crack the US market.

Flightsdirect.com – where the west of Scotland firm plans to sell international and domestic air travel to customers across the Atlantic –will launch at the end of the year.

Barrhead made an initial foray into the American market in 2005, but was forced to pull out after just six weeks due to issues surrounding regulatory red tape and problems with shipping paper tickets to American customers.

Bill Munro, the firm's founder and chairman, said: "We had the US website operating a few years ago and it was running very well – but we had to shut it down.

"We didn't have the budget American airlines on the site then and it was before the days of e-ticketing which caused us major problems and it was just too complicated. We are delighted we can now go back."

Dubai International Capital, which reduced its stake earlier this year from about 16.5 per cent to single digits, will exit the business.

Munro said Barrhead was also looking to consolidate its position in the east of Scotland with the opening of a store in Edinburgh planned for later this year, and another in the Borders.

About seven stores are planned for Scotland, funded by a 1m investment.

"We're looking to strengthen our position around the Edinburgh area," said Munro. We have identified areas we would like to move into in the east coast and are looking for specific sites."