| XL Leisure Group, the UK’s third largest tour operator, was forced to declare itself bankrupt today and the company has now gone into administration.
All of the firm’s flights have been cancelled and its planes grounded, leaving some 67,000 people stranded.
Hundreds of people arrived at UK airports to find their flights had been cancelled after XL went into administration overnight.
Many more travellers already part-way through foreign breaks were left wondering how they would get home.
Among those are Dundonians Daren and Kerry Payne.
The brother and sister are on holiday in the Greek island of Rhodes but have now been left facing uncertainty over how they will get home.
Speaking to the Tele from his holiday apartment today, Mr Payne said he only found out about the ongoing chaos during a morning at the beach.
“We have been here for about ten days and are due to go back on Wednesday,” he said. “We just heard about what was going on from a couple on the beach. We hadn’t had any official notice.”
Mr Payne, who works in the Promotions department of DC Thomson, publishers of the Tele, said he had been told arrangements were now being made to get him and his sister home.
“The people we have spoken to on the phone have told us arrangements are being made for flights home — we just don’t know when they will happen.”
The Civil Aviation Authority is trying to arrange special flights back to Britain — but some people will have to pay again to get a seat.
XL was still taking bookings last night, but shortly before 3am it was announced that efforts to secure a rescue package had failed and administrators had been called in.
Chief executive Phil Wyatt said he was “devastated” at the company’s collapse and apologised to his customers and employees.
XL flew to destinations across Europe, America and Africa.
Bill Munro, chief executive of Barrhead Travel, said his firm was paying back customers who booked through Seguro or XL now rather than forcing them to wait weeks for their refund to come through from ATOL.
He said, “Some people are actually quite happy to get their money back because of the credit crunch.”
He added that he expected the tourism industry to weather the current storm.
“Other companies will fill the gap and XL’s aircraft will go back into circulation,” he said.
Colin Ramsay, of Dundee travel agent Ramsay World Travel, said those who were on an XL holiday and had booked through a travel agent would get their money back because they are protected by the ATOL tour operators’ licensing scheme.
He said, “The situation is exactly the same as with Seguro — if people booked through a travel agent their money will be safe.” |
