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MYTRAVEL chief executive Tim Byrne has blasted the City for failing to understand how the travel industry works.

Under fire Byrne - who delivered an optimistic trading statement to institutional investors last week - claimed the tour operator’s value had fallen unnecessarily since the last time he met bankers in May.

Then, Byrne had posted a profits warning in the wake of the post-September 11 slump and saw MyTravel shares lose a quarter of their value.

“We knew our picture for package sales was realistic. Unfortunately, there seems to have been some confusion in the City,” said Byrne.

“We said the family market was not booking in the first quarter and there was massive uncertainty. We cut capacity and have seen a strong lates market. Our predictions have come true which shows we have managed the business well.”

Byrne said the City had failed to take into account the different year-end dates of MyTravel and First Choice, effectively making his company appear less successful than its UK-listed rival.

“We had £31 million in excess losses for just October, which fell into this year’s figures for us. It made us look especially bad,” said Byrne.

However, MyTravel’s share price has leapt in the last week on the back of Byrne’s revised predictions for this year. He told the City bookings for this year were only 5% down on last year, while prices were up around 7%. Estimated profits for the year are expected to be around £111 million.

Meanwhile, MyTravel has appointed Telewest consumer division managing director Philip Jansen to the new position of chief executive officer MyTravel Europe.