Nicholson leaves Cosmos group

Former Avro managing director Andrew Nicholson has left the Cosmos group after his new position became redundant. Nicholson was recently promoted to a wider e-commerce role because Cosmos wanted to focus more on web business and distribution through online suppliers. But an internal disagreement with other managers in the group over responsibilities led to the independent operator deciding to drop the new role. Cosmos group managing director Fabio Mantegazza said there had been a change of plan, as heads of department had decided they wanted to retain control of web development. Nicholson spent a year as managing director of Avro and before that had two years at Travelocity after it bought Air Tickets Direct, which he founded and ran for several years. Nicholson said he hoped his skills in various areas of business would appeal to other travel companies.