NEWS
MAD-EIRA FOR IT: The 12 winners of T
ravel Weekly’s flagship Cover Stars
competition strike a pose before dinner in Madeira during their four-night Indulgent Escapes trip. While on the trip – co-hosted with Madeira’s tourist board – each of the agents had a professional photoshoot to create pictures to grace T
ravel Weekly’s front covers next year.
Staying at the five-star Savoy Palace in Funchal, the agents visited Funchal old town and the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens, and enjoyed a sunset boat trip, during which they took in the views from the Ponta do Rosto viewpoint. The week ended with a visit to a vineyard and a tour of Madeira’s mountains. The competition was organised in partnership with Jet2holidays.
2026 in association with
‘Zombie’ travel firms and those in debt struggled to renew Atols
Ian Taylor
Healthy booking figures and record Atol capacity following three strong years meant straightforward licence renewals for most companies in September, yet Atol specialists report a minority of businesses struggled to renew. Smaller mass-market
He reported the CAA had STORY TOP
operators, companies carrying Covid debts and those moving above the CAA’s £20 million Atol turnover threshold had most difficulty – with more firms falling into this category as the threshold has not changed for a decade. Chris Photi, partner and head
of travel at White Hart Associates, described last month’s renewals as “fraught and as difficult as I can recall since Covid”, saying a minority of “zombie companies [those with significant unpaid debt] simply can’t meet the CAA tests”.
travelweekly.co.uk
lessened its requirements to renew some licences, noting: “The industry’s finances are generally stronger, with many companies having had three successful years and repaying much of their Covid debt, but a minority continue to struggle and have not recovered from Covid. They take up a lot of the CAA’s and our time and effort to agree
licensing renewal terms.” Photi added: “The CAA has
no desire to precipitate a failure and have lessened their requirements at times, albeit using licensing and booking restrictions as a backstop in the event businesses fail to meet the revised requirements.” Travel Trade Consultancy director
Martin Alcock agreed, saying: “I share the view that 90% of businesses are fine but 10% awful. Clients sailed through [the renewal process] provided they could meet the CAA’s requirements.”
10
Years since CAA changed a £20m Atol turnover threshold
He suggested: “The biggest
problem has been with companies going from below the £20 million Atol turnover threshold to above it.” Alcock noted the CAA “applies
a completely different set of requirements and a bunch of financial tests” above the threshold and can order a business “to put X amount of money back into the company”. He added: “The £20 million
threshold hasn’t changed for 10 years and it’s capturing more and more businesses – especially a lot more owner-managed operators, putting pressure on fairly well-run businesses.” Alan Bowen, advisor to the
Association of Atol Companies, told
Travel Weekly: “Some businesses still have a lot of debt from Covid and it’s sitting as a liability in their accounts. Some of my clients have been looking at these [indebted] companies to buy them, but when they see the debt, they don’t want to take it on.” Alcock highlighted the pressure
on “mass-market operators without a point of difference”, saying: “It’s so low-margin, it’s hard to see a future for those unless they can get scale.” He added: “The CAA can impose
restrictions and monitor companies closely – we see that all the time. But it has a cut-off for renewing a licence given the renewal deadline. “So, the CAA is damned if it does
and damned if it doesn’t [renew]. If it takes a licence away, it kills the business. If it allows a company to trade and it fails, people ask why it granted the licence.” Alcock noted: “Keeping a business
going can help the Air Travel Trust fund. The CAA has to be pragmatic.”
23 OCTOBER 2025 5
PICTURE: Thomas Reader
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