Government could force scheduled airlines to offer passenger protection
20.05.11
ATOL protection could be extended to scheduled airlines from 2013, Travelmole reports that transport minister Theresa Villiers told a parliamentary reception. She said that the Coalition Government was looking at introducing legislation to force scheduled airlines to offer customers the same financial protection as offered by package holiday companies.
Ms Villiers said the Government would start consultations soon on reforming the ATOL scheme. The first stage would be to extend the ATOL scheme to travel agents who put together their own package holidays by buying flights and accommodation separately. The new Flight Plus ATOL, which was first mentioned by the Government last autumn, would come into effect next year and extend financial protection to six million dynamically packaged holidays a year.
However, Ms Villiers said the scheme could be extended further to include scheduled airlines at a later date. She said: ‘We are also looking at wider reform for ATOL to see if there is a possibility of bringing scheduled airlines into the scheme. This will be a long-term goal. It will require primary legislation and will be debated in parliament in 2012/13.’
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