Collateral Damage
 

You have to start to look at who else in aviation will be affected by this today, The H/A's who are possibly owed 5/6 figure sums, caterers, fuellers & other subsidiary ground services.
In today’s climate any loss of money without recourse could be fatal to them as well.
For Info who handles them at MAN/LGW?

Did XL operate B747's as a matter of interest??

XL Chief Exec on the news channels currently talking at a press conference at Gatwick.

He claims that a debt of £143 million was not refinanceable.

Also he claims that he pleaded with the CAA to allow his aircraft to fly out and bring back those who are standed as part of the ATOL agreement but that the CAA refused and insisted that this is not acceptable. Other charters will be made.

He seems genuinely upset.

Has been mentioned in previous posts about Northern Rock and should the government not bail out XL, well it looks like according to an article in the TTG it might have to bail out the CAA.
Looks like the CAA fund will not be enough to cover this collapse.
Freedom flights have just only two days ago, won an award in the TTG Travel Awards for Seat-Only Operator of the Year.
Good luck to one and all from the XL group of companies in find new jobs.

Further, French company was sold this morning; German company sold seperately in principle this morning.

My best wishes to all of you who have lost your jobs.
I have one crumb of comfort for at least one of you pilots.
In a couple of months I am off to sunnier climes for a job in property development; a sure fire long term job there then, I hear you say.
Good riddance I hear from the other corner?
So there will be at least one vacancy in the great scheme of things, provided of course, that the well beloved and ever expanding Ryanair keep flying!
I am sure that some of you will find that, once you have taken the Irish euro in your palm, you will find it is not such a bad place to work, just different.
Good luck to you all.
Sad day....................reminds me of British Eagle days!

No, the ones they used for SFB and Falklands were Icelandic, they were operating 2 A330's (on French register i believe) and 3 76 (2x 200 and 1x 300) for the SFB's. The 330 heading to manchester has been diverted to France now I think.

Very sad news, lots of friends at XL, good luck to all involved.

The CAA are going to be shown as woefully unprepared and underesourced for this.

Journos take note.

This is the same organisation that allowed airport fees to go up 20% odd at the end of last year. Lent on by politicians who realised our Spanish friends had borrowed massively and were about to have more than a small amount of problem refinancing. Couldn't possibly let the BAA go the same way as Northern Rock....... just shaft the paying pax...... to bail out our bucaneering friends from Spain

sorry to all at excel it stinks that this government will lean on the CAA to help people in other countries but will not do one iota for those at home.

XL departure
 

While I feel very sorry for ALL the staff at XL please lets not forget the Cleaning company the Caterers and the ground handlers around the network who I am sure are odd a lot of money and will I am sure see very little if any after its all sorted out

Very valid point. I remember the layoffs at 3rd party providers were approximately 4 times the Dan-Air redundancies.

To all at XL I sincerely hope your luck changes for the better, and it works out for you.

XL was a fantastic company to work for.
The people made it great and i will greatly miss flying with each and everyone of them.:{
I wish them all the very best and hope to see you around.
Good luck guys.

I know that this input has no real relevance, however my wife and I have only just (Wednesday) returned from Paphos, Cyprus following a wonderful holiday.

The impact of this for us is that during our check-in with the Thomson/First Choice desk there was an XL check -in desk right next to us. When the XL check in lass had finished with her passengers she immediately started to check-in Thomson/First Choice passengers. I know that the check-in staff do not necessarily work for the airlines involved but it was a nice touch and all staff were so friendly.

Also, when we departed the terminal for our Thompson aircraft the Cypriot bus driver drove us to an XL aircraft which had just completed its loading of passengers - much to the amazement of the XL Cabin Crew. Of course (with me saying to the wife and the bus driver “that’s the wrong aircraft mate”) many passengers on our bus disembarked eager to board the aircraft. They were quickly ushered back onto the bus by a bemused XL Cabin Crew member.

Our thoughts and sympathies (especially so close after our holiday) are with all staff who worked with XL, all passengers who have lost their holiday, all passengers currently stranded abroad and anybody else that may be affected by this collapse.

Sad Sad news, I hope it all works out for those effected at XL and those indirectly effected servicing XL's needs..

fms_fail,

I to have been in the situation and it is never nice.

I know of one previous Major maintainer that closed in the UK, where the first inclination that they were closing was when they asked someone who was looking at the staging they were working on what he was doing, and he told them he had come to view it with the prospects of bidding on it, because they were closing down! :mad:

Amongst all the doom.and gloom of passengers missing their holiday etc., how nice it was to see that lovely woman, Susannah Reid, on breakfast time BBC1, raising the point that whilst the passengers were losing their holidays, 2,000 people were losing their jobs. A sympathetic, lovely lady.

...and some may even lose the homes if they cant get work quickly, which in the current climate, difficult.

Flew with XL down to Tobaga in XL1 class, bloody excellent airline. Good luck to you all at XL...

2,000 job losses? Good grief how big was XL? How many aircraft did it have in its fleet?

It was a lot more than just an "airline" :{

Any XL pilots who fancy a change of lifestyle should consider joining us in the corporate jet world. There's plenty of work available for people with airline backgrounds and you'll never have to do a night DLM/CFU/PFO etc. ever again! Best move I ever made in 25+ years in the business - can't believe it took me so long to figure it out. 100 hrs/month? nah! 40 to fifty if you're with a busy operator. Long night flights? - only if you fly a GV or Global Express and then it'll only be one sector and off to the bar.

Even the money is decent these days - many of the larger operators are offering airline wages for doing a fraction (oops!) of the work.

Good luck to all of you in your next careers I'm sure it won't be long before you get back in the air.

McDoo:ok: