Govt 'could do more to protect air passengers'

The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) has urged the government to do more to offer financial protection to passengers in the event of an airline going bust and leaving its customers stranded abroad.

Transatlantic budget carrier Zoom recently went into liquidation, leaving some 4,500 UK passengers stranded in its flight destinations in Canada and the United States.

Abta spokesman Sean Tipton said that the government could be doing more to limit the problems that are caused when airlines or travel companies go bust.

He suggested one scheme whereby the government contributes a small sum of money to a central fund every time someone makes a travel booking.

"Every time a travel company went out of business, including airlines, that money would be used to give customers their money back," Mr Tipton explained.

A scheme similar to this is already in use in the Netherlands and works in "an extremely straightforward fashion", according to the Abta spokesman.

Mr Tipton said that a government donation scheme would increase consumer protection and also address the fact that tour operators are forced to pay for financial cover for their passengers while individual airlines are not.

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