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106 firms fail to meet ATOL renewal deadline
The latest renewal of Air Travel Organisers’ Licences (ATOLs) has seen 106 firms fail to get their licences granted.
The September deadline set by the Civil Aviation Authority saw almost 1,400 of the 2,400 licences come up for renewal. The remainder are in force until March 2006.
The CAA said 99% of the firms that had provided supporting information had been given a decision, and 93% of these had been granted new licences.
ATOL licensing manager Andy Cohen said: “This was an excellent result as the overall number of ATOL holders has grown significantly during the past year. Consequently, this renewal was 20% larger than a year ago.
“Although the numbers of firms failing to renew by the deadline was slightly higher, this was anticipated given the number of firms renewing for the first time.
“Almost 75% of the firms failing to renew on time fell into the Small Business ATOL category for organisers who carry less than 500 passengers year. ATOL often represents a small portion of their overall business, or their tour operating is seasonal, so renewing on time is less crucial.
“However, we expect the majority of firms that failed to renew on time to do so in early October.”
He added: “Each time a number of firms decide not to renew their licences and this is a crude measure of the strength of the ATOL market. This time the drop-out rate was 4%, similar to that in September 2004.
“This, together with the increase in overall ATOL numbers, underlines the resilience of the industry. Overall, we found that licence holders were positive about the coming year.”
*The list of the ATOLs that have not been renewed is on the CAA website at www.atol.org.uk
Report by Phil Davies
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