ABTA and the Air Transport Users Council are calling for the Government to introduce a consumer levy to protect scheduled airline passengers.
The move follows the collapse of Debonair that left 700 passengers stranded abroad. A levy would be paid into a central fund to repatriate and reimburse customers if another airline fails. AUC chairman Ian Hamer said he had written to the deputy prime minister John Prescott to demand the Air Travel Organiser’s Licence scheme is extended to include scheduled carriers.
ABTA chief executive Ian Reynolds said it had been lobbying Brussels and Westminster for scheduled airline protection for some time but there had been little progress.
See full story on page 3