More than 10 staff at failed travel agency Ola Holidays have already found new jobs thanks to managing director Richard Knight.
The Loughton-based online agency, which employed about 30 staff, ceased trading last Wednesday with around 500 customers overseas.
Just a week later, 11 staff from Ola have been offered new sales positions with A1 Travel, an agency in Ilford about 10 miles from Loughton, Essex.
A1 Travel owner Chetan Patel said: “Richard Knight called me to ask if I was recruiting and if I would consider interviewing some of his team. He did everything he could to resolve the situation.
“We have given 11 staff members a job and are continuing to interview more. It’s an easy transition for them as we use the same back-office systems.”
The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed all holidays booked with Ola would be protected and is working with the Travel Trust Association to fulfil all existing bookings.
TTA member Qwerty Travel has taken over all forward bookings including flights and is issuing new Atol certificates to clients.
Travel Network Group managing director Gary Lewis said: “This is an opportunity for us to fulfil these holidays. We have done this for years for our flight-plus members when we have failures but this is the first time we have done it for the CAA. It’s using skills we already have to help the CAA and secure the future of flights that have been booked.”
Travel Weekly understands Ola, which mostly sold flight-plus holidays to Spain, was heavily reliant on advertising on Teletext Holidays, which announced four weeks ago that it would be working with Truly Travel exclusively from December 1.
Travel Weekly was unable to contact Richard Knight.