Millions of UK consumers, who would otherwise have been left abroad or facing financial loss when their tour operator went out of business, have been supported by the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (ATOL for short) scheme, which is marking its 50th anniversary this summer.
The ATOL scheme, run by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, offers financial protection for British holidaymakers when they book a package trip that includes a flight. The scheme steps in to protect passengers if their tour operator ceases to trade.
The first ever ATOL licences were issued in the summer of 1973 as the popularity of overseas trips grew, and over the last 50 years ATOL has also grown significantly to financially protect more than 26 million passengers a year. Last year, ATOL protected bookings made up around £27.7 billion in sales.
Since 2000 alone, ATOL has repatriated around 242,000 holidaymakers who were overseas at the time their tour operator went out of business and has settled more than 1.7 million claims for consumers who had bookings for travel at a later date. The ATOL scheme also assists holidaymakers to stay in their holiday accommodation, if possible, when their tour operator goes out of business while they are abroad.
ATOL was first called on to help consumers in August 1974 when Court Line, the second largest tour operator in the UK with subsidiaries including Clarksons Holidays, Horizon, and Medvillas, collapsed leaving around 35,000 travellers abroad.
More recently it stepped in to support holidaymakers impacted by the collapse of Monarch Airlines Group and Thomas Cook Group. Thomas Cook’s collapse was the biggest repatriation since the Second World War, which saw more than 140,000 passengers brought back to the UK within 14 days and 94 per cent of passengers flown back on their original departure date. Millions of others who were yet to travel claimed the value of their holiday back through the ATOL scheme.
Paul Smith, interim-joint chief executive at the UK Civil Aviation Authority said:
“It’s been an incredible 50 years for the ATOL scheme and while the travel sector has changed since 1973, ATOL has remained a vital companion financially protecting millions of consumers, providing much needed support when their holiday company ceased to trade.
“When Thomas Cook went out of business, we co-ordinated a massive operation to support customers who were affected. Failures on this scale are a very rare occurrence but have a big impact on individuals when they happen. Booking a package trip financially protected by the ATOL scheme continues to offer reassurance to consumers that they are protected should the worst happen, and they will be helped to get home and not left out of pocket.”
The Civil Aviation Authority is currently conducting a programme to reform the ATOL scheme to better protect consumers’ money by travel businesses and, as a result, improve the financial resilience of the ATOL scheme overall.
Consumers can easily check if their flight package trip is ATOL protected by using the handy tool on our www.atol.org website.
