Aito has slammed CAA proposals to scrap small business Atols as a “volte-face” from the regulator that will only tie the “good guys” up in regulatory knots.
The tour operators’ association will voice its concerns at a quarterly meeting of the Air Travel Insolvency Protection Advisory Committee (Atipac).
Aito Chairman Derek Moore said: “We have already started a dialogue with the CAA on this important issue and hope for a positive outcome.
“The consultation paper is very much a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and we hope that the CAA will reconsider.
“The CAA states that the SBA scheme has cost it £3.9 million over the past five years, and that it seeks to ensure a fair and proportionate financial protection scheme.
“We think they’ve missed the fact that the annual deficit (£780,000) divided by the number of SBAs (950) gives an annual deficit per company of just £821.
“Making a reasonable effort to identify the risky companies and charging each SBA a few hundred pounds more per annum would thus wipe out the deficit and would be far more cost-effective than what is currently proposed.
“It would also avoid substantial extra costs being incurred by a good many special-interest holiday companies – costs that would, inevitably, need to be passed on to consumers.”
Aito says it hopes that the CAA will leave the SBA scheme in place because it assists entrepreneurs starting up or running small companies to comply with regulatory requirements.
Moore added: “We are convinced that the best way forward is for the CAA to tackle the rogue traders abusing the SBA scheme rather than to punish the good guys, including Aito’s SBAs.
“Unfortunately, there seems to be a general malaise in government – rogue traders are allowed to continue operating outside the law, many internet-based businesses remain unregulated, and all the talk about supporting SMEs appears to be mere empty words.
“Aito feels that the time has come to fight back.”