Airport to seek Canadian flights

All Zoom flights from Cardiff have been cancelled Flights low note for male choir

Managers at Cardiff airport say they will be looking to replace flights to North America if Transatlantic airline Zoom cannot get back into business.

The budget carrier suspended all flights on Thursday and is applying to go into administration, blaming its problems on the high jet fuel price.

The Zoom flight to Vancouver from Cardiff at 1435 BST on Thursday did not leave and passengers were offloaded.

They, along with future passengers, are advised to book with other airlines.

All Zoom flights from Cardiff have been cancelled and passengers are being advised to contact credit or debit card issuers about refunds.

Zoom had operated once weekly flights to Vancouver and twice weekly flights to Toronto from Cardiff.

Cardiff International Airport said the problems experienced by Zoom were entirely due to the rise in aviation fuel and were not as a result of any weakness in the market from Cardiff.

It is a successful route, we don't want to lose this route Steve Hodgetts, Cardiff airport

Steve Hodgetts from the airport said news of Zoom's demise had come "out of the blue".

"The flight came in late from Belfast. We were expecting the flight to operate normally, but the airline cancelled the flight at 4pm," he said.

Mr Hodgetts said passengers were obviously very disappointed but would have to go to another airport to find flights to Canada.

The aircraft has been moved from the runway to the south side of the airport where it will not interfere with operations.

It will be up to the airline or the company it is leased from to come and collect it.

He said there were no redundancies at the airport as all cabin staff were Canadian based and the check-in staff were agency workers.

He said he was determined to find a replacement service should Zoom not recover.

"The flights had been very successful," he said.

"They were an excellent partner. If Zoom do not recover from this we will look for a replacement.

"It is a successful route, we don't want to lose this route. The priority is to get a replacement for Toronto."

He said he was not concerned that other airlines could also be facing difficulties with the rising cost of aviation fuel.

WHAT SHOULD ZOOM AIRLINES' PASSENGERS DO? Any Zoom flight you have booked will not be departing. If you still wish to travel, Zoom recommends contacting other carriers and lists several on its website If your flight is part of a package holiday originating from the UK, you may be able to make a claim under the CAA's Air Travel Organiser's Licence (Atol) scheme. If you have paid for a Zoom flight, contact your credit card or debit card issuer to see if they can refund your money Source: Zoom Airlines

"We've got confidence that they are robust," he said.

Sian Roderick from Cardiff was on the final Zoom flight to land at Cardiff airport on Friday and said she felt "incredibly lucky" to have made it back to the UK.

"It would have cost a fortune to get back to Cardiff because I have three kids," she said.

"We chose the flights because of the convenience of flying in and out of Cardiff so I hope the airport is able to find another airline which will run those services to Canada.

"My husband is American so we tend to visit that part of the world every year."

UK-Canadian Zoom said the rising cost of aviation fuel had added $50m (£27.3m) to annual fuel bills. The economic slowdown had also contributed to its problems, it said.

Zoom, which has flown since 2001, employs 450 staff in Canada and 260 staff in the UK.

It also operated flights from London Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester and Belfast, as well as Paris and Rome.

And it flew to eight destinations in Canada, New York, San Diego, Fort Lauderdale and Bermuda.

Zoom's co-founder Hugh Boyle told BBC News he "did not hold much hope" of finding new investors to salvage the company.

"We are very, very sad and disappointed that we thought we could pull through this very difficult situation," he said.

In a statement, Mr Boyle and his brother John said they "deeply regretted" having to suspend all Zoom operations.

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