CAA urged to use Atol reform to deliver ‘positive change’
Ilaria Grasso MacolaAdvantage and Abta chiefs have urged the Civil Aviation Authority to deliver a "proportionate and risk-based" approach to reforming the Atol scheme.
Speaking at the Barclays Travel Forum in London on Tuesday (18 April), Advantage chief operating officer Paul Nunn and Abta’s director of membership and financial protection Rachel Jordan said their members did not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach and wanted to see flexibility.
“What we’d like to see is positive change come out of the consultation,” Jordan told the audience. “What would be less positive is to be mandating a particular option for businesses.”
The comments come as the aviation watchdog closed its second round of consultations on 31 March.
“[The change] isn’t really about this moment, it’s about making sure that we have got the right arrangements for the next 10-15 years,” said Paul Smith, the CAA’s consumer and markets group director and interim joint chief executive.
Introducing some form of segregation of customer funds and, potentially a variable Atol Protection Contribution, are among the reform’s main ambitions.
The CAA revealed in late January that, while no final decision had been made, it was leaning towards combining the segregation of funds with bonds and other financial instruments.
Nunn also took issue with how questions in the second consultation were posed, as according to him they were mandating a specific model. “We don’t believe that is pro-choice and we don’t think that’s proportionate or justified,” he added.
Sudheer K Sharma, director at Richmond-based escrow service firm PT Trustees, defended the need to reform the scheme and operate a hybrid model, made up of segregation of customer money and trust funds.
“The trust account proposition is simple to work, it provides the relevant amount of protection and, above all, it gives regular oversight over what is happening [to people’s money],” Sharma added. “All the stakeholders know exactly what is going on.”
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