Anyone contemplating booking a holiday in the near future will find their visions of idyllic resorts blotted out by the images of angry and disappointed holiday-makers prevented from getting to their destination by the collapse of an airline or travel company. The collapse of XL Leisure, the UK's third largest tour operator, hard on the heels of the package holiday company Seguro Travel, which used Prestwick as a base, and Scotland's low-cost transatlantic carrier, Zoom Airlines, has brought home to British travellers the hard reality of the turbulence ahead for the aviation business. These are merely the latest and nearest casualties in a series of collapses brought about by soaring fuel prices, the end of hedging contracts on price and overcapacity in a competitive market, and are expected to be harbingers of further airline bankruptcies. While the major airlines and holiday companies may receive an initial boost from the scramble to accommodate passengers already booked on the defunct carriers, that is likely to be cancelled out in the longer term as people adjust their budgets to accommodate higher food and fuel prices and delay booking holidays. That will now be compounded by concerns about the stability of travel companies.
Anyone contemplating booking a holiday in the near future will find their visions of idyllic resorts blotted out by the images of angry and disappointed holiday-makers prevented from getting to their destination by the collapse of an airline or travel company.
