Directors of the collapsed XL Leisure Group have emerged as backers of Viking Airline
XL founder Phil Wyatt’s new business Black Pearl Investments has taken a 50% stake in Viking through its Icelandic operation BPI Iceland Ltd. Halldor Sigurdarson, XL’s former finance director, and former XL director Magnus Stephensen are backers of the new investment firm behind Viking, along with Wyatt. Viking will fly British holidaymakers this summer thanks to a deal with Meridian Aviation, run by Phil Wyatt’s brother Jim Wyatt (Independent). Holidaymakers face an increase in the amount the pay to protect their holiday under the ATOL scheme, as the CAA warns that XL compensation claims has left it dangerously underfunded at a time when more firms are likely to fail.