XL collapse impacts hundreds of thousands of travellers

Upwards of 285,000 UK travellers have been affected by the collapse of travel operator XL, which is being described by industry experts as the largest such failure in over 20 years.

The Foreign Office has issued a statement, appearing on its website, confirming that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has “put in place measures to ensure those overseas will be able to get home.”

Estimates indicate that approximately 50,000 of the operator’s customers currently abroad on holidays booked through an XL-related travel agent, 10,000 are abroad on XL Airways tickets and another 25,000 booked through other tour operators sharing the XL flights.

XL chief executive, Phil Wyatt, has said that the proposed “rescue” effort to bring holidaymakers back to the UK will be a major undertaking. “The CAA, believe me, will have a huge challenge on their hands… 67,000 people who could have flown back on XL Airways, that are going to come back on God-knows-what carriers that the CAA find. It’s going to be the most challenging airlift, I believe, that anyone has undertaken.”

The company has cited high jet fuel prices and decreased passenger demand as the cause for shutting down. Former employees are saying that the travel operator did not inform its staff of the financial difficulties it was facing, and left them “in the dark.”

All flights on XL Airways have been cancelled and it is being advised that passengers not go to the airport without alternate arrangements.

The CAA has called this latest travel company collapse “probably the biggest holiday operator failure of the past 20 years.”

The collapse of XL, which operated from approximately one dozen UK airports, has had an impact on flights throughout Britain.

www.xl.com