Atol reform appears on hold as licence numbers hit new record

Atol capacity for the next 12 months has hit a new record following the September renewals, with easyJet Holidays adding 400,000 to its licence and Tui adding 90,000 to take total numbers above the 34.2 million licensed a year ago.

 

The numbers are up despite Jet2holidays leaving its Atol unchanged on just over seven million and Booking.com reducing its licence by 157,000

 

Booking is the only one of the major companies to have made a significant cut in capacity, having reduced its Atol licence by almost half from a high of 2.15 million in 2023 to just above 1.1 million for the next 12 months.

 

More: EasyJet holidays and Tui boost Atols in latest renewals

 

Analysis: Who can now doubt the Atol scheme works?

 

Loveholidays increases Atol by 25% to more than 5m passengers [April 25]

 

The accommodation platform only acquired an Atol in the wake of the 2018 Package Travel Regulations coming into force and had an Atol of just 122,000 initially in 2022.

 

The latest Atol figures, released by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) last week, reflect continuing strong demand for travel in general and financially protected package holidays in particular.

 

They appeared almost simultaneously with a strong signal that the CAA’s Push for Atol reform may be off the agenda with news that CAA head of Atol Michael Budge is to join Abta.

 

The association announced last week that Budge will become its new director of finance from December.

 

Budge, who has led the Atol reform process since 2021, expressed delight at “joining an organisation that plays a pivotal role in shaping the travel sector”.

 

Abta has repeatedly questioned the rational for the CAA’s proposed Atol reforms which became stalled towards the end of the previous government and has failed to move forward under the current government.

 

Total Atol-holder numbers now stand at 1,612, excluding 45 which applied but have not yet renewed their licence, compared with 1,616 in March.

The CAA noted 20 million travellers had taken an Atol-protected holiday in the year to the end of August, almost 1.1 million up on last year.