Fewer operator collapses, but more refunds in 2023, says CAA

The number of collapses dropped steeply from the 15 in 2022; however, these cost the Air Travel Trust (ATT) only £2.4 million. For the first time in three years, a small number of passengers – 15 – required repatriation last year, with around 17,000 customers refunded. 

The largest 2023 failure was Dream World Travel, which cost the ATT £3.3 million after refunding 14,615 customers. Live Holidays incurred a £596,000 call and others, including Arena Tours, Fun Travel and Explore Montenegro incurred a total expenditure of £1.3 million.

The £2.50 Atol Protection Contribution, which funds the ATT, brought in £65.8 million from 26.6 million passengers, compared with £37.8 million in 2022 from 15 million passengers. In 2023, the Trust also received £1.2 million in liquidation dividends from the 2010 collapse of Goldtrail Travel. 

The Trust said: “The performance of travel companies is getting close to full recovery.”  However, it added:

“Balance sheets broadly continue to show signs of weakness and still need strengthening and repair. Cash flows continue to be stretched by the servicing and repayment of higher debt burdens.”

The CAA added the Trust had £169 million of cash reserves and £75 million of commercial borrowing facilities.

It added: “To the extent that those resources may be insufficient to meet the costs of a large or multiple failures, the Trustees’ expectation is that HMG will provide additional financial support to the ATT as necessary.”