Civil Aviation Authority head of Atol Andy Cohen confirmed last night that the Small Business Atol (SBA) licence will be retained for small travel companies.
Cohen told an industry audience at the Travlaw Big Tent event in London: “The SBA will stay.”
The CAA announced plans to abolish the SBA and introduce financial monitoring of smaller Atol businesses last June.
It backed up its plans with figures showing the cost of failures among SBA holders outweigh payments to the consumer protection fund, the Air Travel Trust.
The changes were slated to begin from this April.
The proposals triggered the greatest number of responses the CAA has seen to a consultation, most of them opposed to abolishing the SBA.
Cohen said: “We had 170 responses – I think the most we’ve ever had to a consultation – and about 100 were from SBA holders.
“We looked at it long and hard and we’ve decided the SBA will stay – but not in its current form.”
He told the Travlaw audience: “If you are genuinely a small business, you will be able to remain an SBA.
“However, we will be making sure genuine SBAs at the very least face a financial test based on solvency. That is good news.
“Details on when and how will follow in due course.”
There are about 950 SBA holders – about half the total number of firms holding Atols.
Cohen declined to reveal the CAA’s plans on other aspects of the Atol reform proposals, including a plan to introduce a ‘licensed practitioner’ scheme for accountants filing Atol reports.
He said: “We are looking at this closely and have not made up our minds on it.”
The SBA currently licenses companies carrying up to 500 Atol-protected passengers a year.
Travel Weekly understands the CAA plans to switch to a scheme based on Atol revenue rather number of bookings, with new financial criteria and monitoring.
The authority will also drop plans to implement the changes from April and delay reform until details of a revised Package Travel Directive, expected to be finalised this spring, are known.
The CAA will announce its decisions on Atol reform early next month.