No passenger protection if airlines go bust

2008-08-08

The Air Travel Insolvency Protection Advisory Committee (ATIPAC), which advises the Civil Aviation Authority, says more financial protection must be offered to protect passengers when airlines go bust.
 

The committee said it had strong concerns over the lack of financial protection for air travellers booking directly with scheduled airlines.
 

Highlighting the failure of UK business class carrier Silverjet, and US rivals MAXjet and Eos in the last seven months, in its eighth annual report, ATIPAC said these airline failures demonstrated the “significant financial” loss passengers can be exposed to in the event of an airline going out of business.
 

Chairman, John Cox, said: "Airlines are not providing suitable protection and advice for their passengers. Information about financial protection is negligible and, in the event of an airline failing, passengers often have no choice but to pay their own repatriation costs. Those yet to travel often have to pay for replacement flights or face losing the value of any pre-paid element of their holiday.”

However, if you travel with an ATOL-protected tour operator, you face none of these risks, and can even be repatriated at no additional cost - or receive a full refund if you have yet to travel, if your tour operator ceases trading.

Cox added: "This two-tier protection system must not be allowed to continue and [ATIPAC] reiterates its call for airlines to be brought into a financial protection scheme."