Failed operator Luxtripper accounted for 98% of the almost £4 million cost of Atol failures in the 12 months to March.
Air Travel Trust accounts for 2023-24 reveal the fund underwriting Atol protection swelled to £185 million in March and to £199 million at the end of June. Luxtripper, one of only six failures in the year, accounted for £3.92 million of the £3.99 million in claims.
Administrators are still looking into the reasons for the failure last October, a month after Luxtripper’s Atol renewal. In a report in May, the administrators noted “a number of matters into which further investigations are being conducted”.
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The administrators’ initial report to creditors estimated the company owed £11.9 million, based on unaudited accounts. These recorded almost £1.1 million in profit for the 12 months to March 2023. However, the accounts included ‘intangible assets’ valued at £3.59 million – up from £626,000 in 2021. Three days before Luxtripper went into administration, the same assets were independently valued at £36,000 although they were eventually sold for £115,000.
Luxtripper had a £458,000 bond with the CAA, but the administrators report £4.8 million had been repaid to customers by May.
The Air Travel Trust accounts reveal three of the remaining five company failures in the period – Travel Inspired, Florida Direct and Trivoyage Travel – were members of Protected Trust Services and it handled the claims.
Atol Protection Contribution (APC) payments to the trust totalled £75 million in the year, covering 30.1 million passengers, an increase of 3.5 million year on year, with the trustees reporting: “Forward-booked passenger volumes were up 12% compared to 2019 and 11% compared to 2023.”
The trust’s expenses rose to almost £6.6 million, up from £4.8 million the previous year. However, £1.1 million was spent on the CAA developing a new consumer claims portal expected to “deliver significant improvements… and efficiencies over many years”.
At the same time, the fund accrued almost £7 million in interest, balancing its expenses.
The trust remains backed by a credit facility of £75 million, but no longer has insurance against the collapse of a major Atol holder. However, the trustees report their expectation that the government “will provide additional financial support as necessary”.