Jetline trade creditors owed £3.4 million

Jetline Travel went into administration in March owing an estimated £3.4 million to unsecured trade creditors and a further £800,000 to consumers, according to the company’s administrators.

Cruise lines are owed more than £1.2 million – £427,000 to Princess Cruises, £248,000 to Carnival, £236,000 to Holland America Line, £132,000 to Cunard and £175,000 to Royal Caribbean.

Jetline ceased trading after Carnival brands Princess Cruises, Cunard and HAL cancelled some bookings through the company “due to its breach of contract” by failing to transfer customer payments on schedule.

More: Jetline assets acquired by London-based operator

Jetline Travel enters administration after failing as Atol holder

A Statement of Proposals by joint administrators Alan Clark of Carter Clark and Neil Bennett of Leonard Curtis calculates more than £4.4 million is owed to unsecured creditors and puts the total deficiency at £4.7 million. But these remain estimates, with directors Steven Roberts and Andrew Todd yet to file a Statement of Affairs and the amount owed to the Air Travel Trust fund for Atol-protected bookings unspecified.

The administrators note that only secured creditor Barclays Bank, which is owed £1.2 million and holds the mortgage on Jetline’s property in Barnet, north London, “will be repaid in full”. The property is up for sale.

They warn: “It is considered unlikely there will be sufficient funds available to enable any form of distribution to unsecured creditors.”

These include flight provider Aviate, which is owed £523,000, and accommodation provider Bedsonline, owed £285,000.

The sale of Jetline assets, including databases and IT, to Travelodeal in April realised just £60,000.

The administrators record the company, which sold as Jetline Holidays and Jetline Cruises in the UK and as Jetline Vacations in the US, held customer databases of 247,000 (cruises) and 529,000 (holidays) in the UK and 68,000 in the US.

The CAA, which required Jetline to operate an escrow account holding 70% of Atol payments, confirmed the company had 800 Atol-protected bookings and 20 customers abroad when it ceased trading on March 6. However, there was no pipeline protection for trade payments after Jetline quit Abta in November 2020 over its handling of pandemic-era refunds.

The company entered administration on March 28 with its 27 staff owed £37,000 in wages, holiday pay and pension contributions.

Jetline owner Steven Roberts has so far declined to comment.