Northern Cyprus specialist World International ceased trading yesterday afternoon.
The company, trading as TWI Flights, Jewels of the World, and flightcabin.com, was based in Ilford, Essex and sold package holidays and flights to Northern Cyprus.
An industry source said the company launched a charter airline this year but had been hit by a combination of the World Cup, the heat wave and generally poor trading conditions.
When the company failed, there were 500 holidaymakers currently abroad and many more with forward bookings yet to travel.
The CAA, under its ATOL (Air Travel Organiser’s Licensing) scheme, is currently making arrangements for customers abroad to complete their holiday and return to the UK, and to fully refund those with forward bookings.
Travel World International held an ATOL licence providing a
£933,516 bond to the CAA.
UK customers due to travel with the operator are being advised to submit a claim to the CAA. Claim forms are available on the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk.
Those with flight-only bookings, who are holding tickets, may be able to travel as planned. They should contact the airline for confirmation of flights.
In the year to March 2005, the ATOL scheme rescued or refunded over 32,000 holidaymakers and paid out almost £10.2 million to those on ATOL-bonded holidays.
By Bev Fearis
