Button-pusher
All good and well. Put on the flights and they will come. Or will they ? With all the media coverage of PW and his companies, are travel agents going to risk booking their clients with these companies, especially in view of the proposed new ATOL rules making travel agencies liable in the event of the airline's failure ? The rules will change the game forever.
Here's what the papers have: -
Source: Travel Weekly Feb 28, 2011 07:44
Media pursuit of former XL bosses continues
Attempts by former directors of XL Leisure Group to draw a line under their association with the most costly failure in industry history risk being undone by continued media interest in their new business ventures.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that former XL Leisure chief executive Phil Wyatt and business associate Halldor Sigurdarson had become directors of Gatwick-based Meridian Aviation.
In fact, Wyatt has been a director of Meridian since last November -
as Travel Weekly revealed in December. Sigurdarson was an executive at Swedish charter carrier Viking Airlines AB, now in bankruptcy protection in Sweden and seeking fresh investment.
Meridian acted as general sales agent (GSA) for Viking Airlines and is run by Wyatt's brother Jim. Phil Wyatt was a part-owner of Viking through investment company Black Pearl Investments UK (BPI UK) which he set up.
The Sunday Times referred to Meridian's lack of an Atol, but as a GSA Meridian would not require one.
Wyatt refuses to comment on his business activities following persistent press speculation that he benefited in some way from the collapse of XL Leisure in 2008 - an allegation he denies. He and his associates believe the press interest is unfairly tarnishing other businesses by association - a belief shared by some independent tour operators.
The Sunday Times report noted that Kiss Flights, which folded last year, was sold by Meridian. Kiss failed in August 2010 after adding capacity and taking on many of the customers who had lost holidays when Goldtrail Travel failed in July.
Goldtrail's unexpected collapse remains the subject of an inquiry and about one third of potential claims from Goldtrail clients remain outstanding. However,
Travel Weekly understands the Civil Aviation Authority views the Kiss failure as a model of how consumer protection should work.
Viking Airlines operated a substantial number of flights for Goldtrail and is believed to have lost a considerable sum of money from the company's failure to complete its summer 2010 programme. No one from Meridian was available to comment.