Administrators have been appointed following the collapse of flight consolidator Emerald Global with the loss of 23 jobs.
The London-based firm sold flights on behalf of 75 airlines, trading under the eConsol brand.
It also ran a direct-to-consumer business trading as People’s Travel wit ba flagship store in Baker Street, as well as a travel management platform, providing business travel to corporates and embassies under the Emerald TMC brand.
Emerald Global was also a majority shareholder in a Malaysian subsidiary, Emerald Global Services, which acted as a support hub and 24-hour client service centre for the UK business.
Joint administrators concluded a sale of Emerald Global’s flight consolidation business and the shares in the Malaysian subsidiary to AERTiCKET Emerald UK, a subsidiary of AERTiCKET Conso, the largest independent airline ticket wholesaler in Europe.
The transaction safeguards four jobs in the UK and approximately 40 in Malaysia. But 23 UK employees have been made redundant.
Neil Gostelow and Steve Absolom from KPMG’s restructuring practice were appointed joint administrators on April 9.
Founded in 1980, Emerald Global was a family-owned specialist in global tailormade independent and group travel.
Gostelow said: “The impact of Covid-19 on the international travel sector has been devastating. The continued uncertainty in the sector’s recovery has ultimately led to administration for this long-standing family-owned business, which prior to the pandemic had a loyal and fast-growing customer base.”
Absolom added: “Our immediate priority is to assist those employees who have been made redundant with the support and assistance they require to make claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.
“We are also seeking to realise the assets of the direct-to-consumer and corporate travel management businesses and encourage any interested parties to contact us at the earliest opportunity.”