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Abta could hold Atols under new CAA rules

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is poised to unveil a draft agreement allowing agency consortia and associations to cut the cost of consumer protection by holding an Atol on behalf of its members.

Advantage confirmed it was ready to offer members protection through a trust account.

The CAA declined to comment, but it is believed a master franchise agreement would be available from next week.

It will set the terms and conditions by which the CAA consumer protection group would license an organisation to act as an Atol holder on behalf of members.
 
There will be options to provide Atol cover through a trust fund, which holds consumers’ money until they complete their holidays, or insurance.

The CAA already has such an arrangement with the Travel Trust Association, but it will be the first time a more widely available template has been made available.

John McEwan, Abta chairman and Advantage chief executive, said: “Advantage has done a lot of the ground-work on this and we are keen. If we go ahead it would be more cost-effective than dealing with the CAA. But we have not got into the detail yet.”

He said Abta would look at the proposal, although the association has not been keen on trust funds in the past.

An Abta spokeswoman said trust arrangements were unlikely to be suitable because “Abta members are individual businesses”.

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