In the wake of the collapse of Silverjet, the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) is calling on the Government to bring in financial protection for airline passengers.

At present customers booking flights as part of a package with an ATOL protected travel agent are protected by the ATOL protection scheme in the event of the airline going bankrupt. However, customers purchasing tickets direct from an airline have no such protection and face financial loss with the risk of being stranded on holiday should their airline collapse.

In April this year, the ATOL protection scheme was revised and a £1 per passenger Air Travel Organisors’ Licensing Protection Contribution was set up to pay for repatriation costs in the event of a tour operator failing. The FTO says it argued strongly at the time for the scheme to be extended to cover customers of airlines but this was rejected by the Government following strong intervention by some airlines.

Andrew Cooper, Director General of the Federation of Tour Operators, said: “I suspect one reason why this logical extension of customer protection has been blocked is the lingering legacy of old-style state-owned, national carrier airlines which sowed a mentality of bogus nationalism and the now quite erroneous belief that airlines don’t go bust. It is high time that our government and regulator urgently put in place proper protection for citizens and also set tour operators a level runway to ensure fair competition. Stranded families and financially disadvantaged travellers will neither forgive nor forget a government which waited for a major airline collapse before acting.”