The Air Travel Trust fund which backs up the Atol-protection scheme is in robust health and had swelled to almost £200 million at the end of June, according to the trust’s latest accounts.
Atol-Protection Contribution (APC) payments to the Air Travel Trust (ATT) in the 12 months to March this year totalled just over £75 million, up from almost £66 million the previous year.
The payments covered 30.1 million passengers, an increase of 3.5 million year on year, with the trustees reporting: “As of March 2024, Atol-protected bookings were healthy.
“Forward booked passenger volumes were up 12% compared to 2019 and 11% compared to 2023.”
The balance of the fund, depleted going into the Covid-19 pandemic by the collapse of Thomas Cook in September 2019, rose to £185 million at the end of the trust’s financial year on March 31 – up from £116 million in March 2023.
The fund stood at £199 million when the accounts were signed off at the end of June.
There were only six Atol-holder failures in the 12 months, a historic low, with total costs of these failures put at just under £4 million – of which £3.9 million was due to the failure of online luxury operator Luxtripper in October 2023.
Only 75 Luxtripper customers required repatriation during the financial year, and almost 2,200 were due refunds.
The trustees note there has been a single Atol failure to date since March, estimated to cost the fund about £200,000.
The ATT’s expenses rose to almost £6.6 million, up from £4.8million the previous year. However, £1.1 million was spent on the CAA developing a new consumer claims portal “expected to deliver significant improvements to the consumer experience and internal processing efficiencies over many years”.
At the same time, the robust financial health of the fund led it to accrue almost £7 million in interest – up from less than £1 million the previous year and more than balancing the ATT’s expenses.
The trust’s cash balance remains backed by an additional credit facility of £75 million.
The insurance policy which provided cover against the collapse of a major Atol holder at the time of Thomas Cook’s failure has not been replaced.
However, as in previous years, the trustees report their expectation that the government “will provide additional financial support to the ATT as necessary . . . based on the support provided over many years and written assurance provided by the Secretary of State for Transport”.
The trustees also report the ATT’s long-term future has been assured.
They note the trust deed which established the ATT in 2004 was due to expire in January 2025. However, the transport secretary “made an administrative variation” to the deed in January this year, extending the period of the trust to 125 years.