BLEAK payout forecasts for passengers and travel agents
owed money by collapsed airline Duo have triggered fresh warnings
from ABTA about the risk of selling financially unprotected air
fares.
In the latest update from Duo’s administrators Deloitte,
affected passengers should get just 7p for every pound owed to them
but payment is still six to nine months away, according to
accountant David Elliott.
“There’s been better asset realisation than we
expected and the claims against the company were fewer than
we’d initially expected, so this forecast has improved by 2p
in the pound on our last estimate,” Elliott said.
Nevertheless, it is still impossible to say how many travel
agents lost money from the carrier’s demise in April 2004,
said ABTA chief executive Ian Reynolds.
“I don’t have any specific figures but I think about
1,000 customers lost money, mainly in the Midlands, and in many
cases if the client is a good customer and the agent doesn’t
want the customer disadvantaged they will have covered the loss out
of their own back pocket,” Reynolds said.
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