Major ATOL holders should be ready to report their passenger numbers to the Civil Aviation Authority by the end of the month using an online system for the first time.
Companies licensed to carry in excess of 30,000 passengers must file returns and pay the £1 ATOL Protection Contribution levied on passengers each month.
They are required to report April passenger numbers on May 1, with a deadline of May 14. Payment will be due by mid-June.
The process continues in a similar way throughout the year, with reports due in the first two weeks of the month and payment a month later.
The remaining 600 holders of full ATOLs should file returns quarterly, with the first due on July 1-14 and payment a month later.
All reports can be made on the CAA website. Holders are required to complete a small number of fields showing the passengers booked, numbers carried and revenue.
The system will show the APC payable – although this is an elementary calculation given the £1 rate per passenger.
The CAA said payments can best be made by direct debit, and it advises companies set up both this and their log-in and password to the ATOL-reporting section of the CAA website now.
ATOL holders will also have to submit quarterly forecasts of passenger numbers for the rest of the year. The first of these is due on July 1. CAA consumer protection group deputy director David Moesli said: “We expect people to need a little help with this process to begin with.”
Small Business ATOL holders, overwhelmingly travel agents, have already paid their APC for the year and will have this adjusted next April in line with the passenger numbers they carried.
- The CAA reported 65 of the 144 ATOL holders that did not renew their licence by April 1 have now done so – leaving 79 applications outstanding. All but 65 of these are holders of Small Business ATOLS.