ABTA’s chief executive Mark Tanzer, addressed the crowd at Travel Convention in Tokyo following the collapse of Thomas Cook:
“After the Monarch failure, and at our request, the government commissioned a review of airline insolvency protection. This review was a thorough and professional piece of work, which now sits with the secretary of state for transport. Unfortunately, it just sits, and change will come too late to help in the case of Thomas Cook. “The review recognised the problem of an unfunded obligation – or political need – to repatriate, and recommended a risk based insurance scheme to provide funds for repatriating stranded citizens.”
He went on to praise the response of the CAA’s response to the collapse of Thomas Cook, saying: “At that time I commended the efforts of the CAA in their repatriation, but called for a better system to deal with airline failures. I repeat myself today.
“The CAA has now completed an enormous job of repatriation, organised at short notice, to bring home 150,000 people, largely in line with their planned schedules.”
“I would like to take this opportunity publicly to thank the CAA for a repatriation job well done, because I don’t think anyone else will.”
