Jetline Travel enters administration after failing as Atol holder

Jetline Travel has gone into administration after ceasing trading as an Atol holder on March 6.

Joint administrators Neil Bennett, of corporate recovery and insolvency firm Leonard Curtis, and Alan Clark, of financial assistance specialist Carter Clark, were appointed on March 28.

Jetline director and principal owner Steven Roberts declined to comment.

The company, based in Barnet in north London, had traded since 2000 and held an Atol for 4,790 passengers but primarily transacted as an agency selling cruises and cheap package holidays.

It ceased trading in early March with 800 forward bookings and 20 customers overseas after Carnival brands Princess Cruises, Cunard and Holland America Line announced the cancellation of “some outstanding bookings through Jetline Holidays due to breach of contract”.

It is understood Jetline, which traded under multiple brands, had failed to pass on customer payments. It had been selling cruises both as a retailer and at net rates, making itself the principal on some bookings.

The Civil Aviation Authority required the company to operate an escrow account that held 70% of Atol payments and should cover the bulk of Atol refunds. But the size of Jetline’s non-Atol business in the UK and of its non-UK business remains unclear. 

An industry source with knowledge of the company described it as “doing a huge amount of business in the US” and warned: “A lot of suppliers may take a hit.”

However, a second source noted the company “had been winding down for a while” and suggested the volumes were not substantial.

Jetline left Abta in November 2020 while being investigated for its handling of customer refunds during the pandemic, leaving it without Abta protection of pipeline monies.

The directors sought to find a buyer through an “accelerated” sale ahead of going into administration. The sales prospectus described Jetline as “a well-established” agency providing “bespoke holiday packages” with “a broad customer base in the UK and internationally, sophisticated proprietary software technology” and a database of 500,000-plus.

The prospectus reported transactions worth £17 million for the year to November 2024, down from £28 million in 2023, the last full year for which there are published accounts. 

The company’s administrators were approached for comment.