Stranded tourists fly back home

Thousands of people were left stranded by the collapse of XL

Tourists left stranded after the collapse of travel company XL are continuing to arrive back in the UK.

More than 29,000 holidaymakers have been brought home after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) organised 126 flights back from 37 destinations.

The regulator said most of the 85,000 tourists affected were covered by an Atol protection scheme.

The CAA has also been called on to help 150 people stranded in a Turkish resort after K&S Travel folded on Saturday.

XL - which flew to 50 destinations - had 21 planes grounded on Friday.

'Back-up fund'

The CAA said about 50,000 tourists who had booked a package with XL were covered by its Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol) scheme, and a further 25,000 who travelled with XL Airways were covered by other holiday companies.

An additional 10,000 who had booked only a flight with XL through the airline's website were not Atol protected but can return on the CAA flights after paying a fee.

XL NUMBERS 85,000 people left abroad 50,000 booked on XL packages covered by Atol 25,000 booked with other tour operators 10,000 booked independently on XL flights Source: CAA

The CAA said tourists are not being forced to cut their holiday short to catch a flight home, and it expects the repatriation process to take two weeks.

It also said it was too early to say if the repatriation and refund costs would be met by XL's Atol bond of £42 million.

It said the big unknown was how many of the 200,000 people with advance bookings had just paid a deposit.

A spokesman said: "It's too early to say exactly what it is going to cost but if the bond is insufficient, the taxpayer will not foot the bill.

"A back-up fund called the Air Travel Trust will meet any difference."

Urgent review

The CAA is also arranging flights for holidaymakers stranded in Turkey by the collapse of K&S, also known as Travel Turkey, which charters planes from Onur Air and only flies to Turkey.

Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson has called for an urgent review of the rules to allow the fleet of stricken firms to continue to fly under the watch of the CAA.

CAA EMERGENCY HELPLINE Customers abroad: [phone] Customers in the UK with advance bookings: 0870 5900927 Holidaymakers stranded in Turkey

"It does not make sense for aircraft to be lying idle at UK airports when they should be used to bring back stranded passengers of that airline," he said.

"There is enormous pressure at the moment within the aviation industry to help with the rescue mission, which we are happy to do, but it should not be like this in the future."

Last week, British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh predicted another 30 airlines would disappear over the coming months, doubling the number that have already gone bust this year.

The decision to place XL Leisure Group into administration has left thousands of staff facing the axe.

XL chairman Phil Wyatt has said the company's entire 1,700 UK workforce could be at risk.

Since XL's collapse it has been disclosed that XL's former auditor - accountancy firm KPMG - warned of "financial irregularities" at the firm almost two years ago.

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