Thousands of passengers stranded abroad as Flyglobespan, tour operator-airline Globespan go bust

Thousands of passengers with plans for the Christmas-season travel have been affected and stranded abroad after Flyglobespan, the low-cost airline based in Edinburgh, Scotland, the United Kingdom, collapsed on December 16, 2009.

The airline, which has cancelled all of its scheduled flights, has entered administration.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrators, were summoned after all attempts to find a new investor for the ailing budget carrier failed, a statement from Flyglobespan said.

Globespan, the tour operator airline and a part of the Globespan Group, also has gone into administration.

Britain’s aviation authorities began operations to help passengers at various airports abroad after Flyglobespan grounded all of its flights on the night of December 16, 2009.

Flyglobespan had operated services from Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Belfast airports.

Britain’s aviation authorities said that 3,400 people at present on holiday, after having flown with Flyglobespan, are probably unprotected by the Air Travel Organisers Licensing (ATOL) insurance scheme. Another 90,000 people having forward bookings are not covered by the ATOL insurance scheme, but an additional 27,000 travellers would be protected, the authorities added.

According to preliminary estimates, about 5,000 people have been expecting to travel to and from overseas destinations with Flyglobespan in the coming days.

About 1,100 people who flew with Globespan, the tour-operator airline, are abroad. There are around 27,000 people who have booked with Globespan.

Globespan operated tour services to various resorts in European countries, Canada, Florida (the United States), and  Egypt.

Ryanair, the budget airline based in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland, which operates a number of flights to Europe, has announced that it would offer a “rescue fare” to passengers who have been stranded at Prestwick International Airport and Edinburgh International Airport in Scotland.

From airports at Edinburgh and Prestwick, Ryanair flies to several destinations, including Alicante, Malaga, Tenerife and Palma (Spain), Faro (Portugal), and Gran Canaria and Lanzarote (the Canary Islands).

David Moesli, deputy director of the Consumer Protection Group at Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said in a press release that those who have booked package holidays with Globespan are protected by the Air Travel Organisers Licence (ATOL) and that these passengers “can complete their holidays.’ Those customers of Globespan with package holidays, but are yet to travel, can claim a refund.

Moesli said the Consumer Protection Group is making arrangements to allow those people who are at present on a package holiday with Globespan in order to help them complete their holidays and fly back home.

Those customers of Globespan who have not yet travelled are to contact the Civil Aviation Authority for more information, on the telephone number 0844 856 2585.

Flyglobespan had strived till the very last to save the airline from administration, using funds it hoped to get from Halcyon Investments, headquartered in Jersey, the United Kingdom.

It may be noted that, about a moth ago, an official of Flyglobespan had denied reports that the company was on the verge of administration. And, just a couple of days ago, Tom Dalrymple, chairman of Flyglobespan, had said that he was confident that an investment package would be available.

Flyglobespan operated services to 24 destinations in North America, Europe, and North Africa. The airline, which had expanded in a big way in the recent years, flew over 1.5 million passengers as well as operated 12,000 flights so far in 2009.