Latest XL Airways Stories

gategroup companies Gate Gourmet, Supplair and Gate Aviation have won new business with Thomas Cook Airlines, Belgium, and Thomas Cook Belgium's long-haul provider, XL Airways France, to provide onboard catering and cleaning services from Brussels and other Belgian cities. According to Gate Gourmet, the new contract with Thomas Cook will represent an increase in meal volume in Belgium by approximately 30%. Guy Dubois, chief executive of gategroup, said: "Since gategroup entered the Belgian...

A TRAVEL firm yesterday called for the tax paid by holiday- makers to failed operator XL Airways to be refunded to the customers. More than 2,000 holidaymakers from the region were stranded when the airline went bust two weeks ago. And many more had booked holidays flights which will now never leave the ground. Yesterday the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) called for the air passenger duty paid on those flights to be refunded to XL customers. When customers book flights...

XL Airways planes were flown home empty after the air carrier became insolvent, leaving the British government to rescue its stranded passengers, pilots say. The British Airline Pilots Association has demanded an inquiry into the affair, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday. The union maintains XL never even considered bringing its stranded passengers home. "Pilots thought this was ridiculous, the aircraft could have brought back around 4,000 people," the group's spokesman said. Because...

By Graeme Brown The cost of a break in the sun is set to rise as the holiday sector struggles against high fuel costs and weak consumer confidence. Travel agents in Stoke-on-Trent have already seen a rise in the cost of holidays after tour company XL called in administrators on Friday, leaving thousands of tourists stranded. They believe the loss of the UK's third-biggest holiday firm could see prices rise because demand could exceed supply. Paul Beech, founder of Connect Travel, in Bryan...

Most of the estimated 90,000 tourists hit by the collapse were covered by the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol) scheme run by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).But the CAA said yesterday that XL's Atol bond of about 42m was unlikely to be enough to cover the cost of repatriation and refunding.Consequently the CAA is going to have to dip into its back-up fund, the Air Travel Trust fund.It said about 55,000 tourists were covered by XL's Atol and a further 25,000 who travelled with XL...

By Robin Turner STAFF who lost their jobs when holiday firm XL collapsed plan to sue their former bosses, the Western Mail can reveal today. Around 150 staff at XL subsidiary Travel City Direct in Swansea's Enterprise Zone which sold XL holiday packages lost their jobs when the firm announced it had gone into administration on Friday. They are among around 1,700 cabin crew, engineers, baggage handlers, sales staff and check-in staff across the UK to have lost their jobs. Former Travel...

By Ian Griggs and Jonathan Owen Fears were growing last night that the Italian airline Alitalia would collapse, days after some 85,000 British holidaymakers were stranded abroad when the travel firm XL Leisure Tours went bust. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, rushed to consult ministers in Rome after the national carrier announced that it might be forced into liquidation. The airline's bankruptcy administrator, Augusto Fantozzi, was reported to have said flights could not be...

By Rob Preece Hastily arranged "repatriation aircraft" have been scrambled to return passengers from tourist destinations across the globe.Those left stranded include more than 250 frustrated Britons who were booked on an XL flight from Florida.The repatriation mission is being overseen by the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol) scheme, which checks tour operators and travel organisers.Atol spokesman David Clover said the XL collapse was a "huge failure" and urged holidaymakers to be...

By John Roberts Tens of thousands of passengers were frantically searching for alternative flights back to the UK last night after XL Leisure Group went into administration with debts of 143m.The tour operator had still been taking bookings only hours before calling in administrators in the early hours of yesterday after failing to secure a rescue package.As the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) attempted to find ways of getting stranded passengers home, XL's chief executive blamed himself,...

By Tom Scotney Thousands of people from the West Midlands were still stranded abroad this morning in the wake of the collapse of one of the coutry's biggest tour operators. And a Birmingham transport expert said the boom time was over for enterprising budget airlines. Dr Pat Hanlon was speaking on the day XL Leisure - the UK's third largest tour operator - went into administration, stranding tens of thousands of holidaymakers abroad. And Dr Hanlon, transport economist at the University of...