Last year proved the largest losses to the airline industry in its history with over 50 airlines collapsing, many of them small to medium in addition to some top 5 country airlines such as XL Airways (UK) and Nationwide (South Africa), citing the weaker airlines to go first. As the credit crunch continues at pace into 2009 with no sight of immediate recovery, the major airlines left who rely on the term ‘cash is king’ are now running out of time.
Director Paul Mclean, explained “Even with the surprising developments at British Airways and as strong as they are, the public have been protecting themselves through our online policy against British Airways collapsing as much as any other airline. Consumers have read about many large corporate failures in many industries over the last 12 months demonstrating that no company is exempt from failure. Airlines and other sectors of the travel industry simply cannot continue with the spiraling events affecting their business, from the credit crunch already crippling their financial suppliers to the large drop in demand for travel. “
It’s never been more important for consumers to ensure their hard earned money is protected especially when it’s apparent that many sectors of the travel industry are un-protected after many high profile collapses such as XL Airways. For just a few pounds ProtectMyHoliday.com financially protects not only your airlines ticket but other end suppliers of your holiday such as other ferry, train, hotel, car hire, coach, holiday homes, tours and fun parks.
TRAVEL TRADE ONLY
ProtectMyHoliday.com run an affiliation programme allowing online website’s to link and earn an introductory commission for each policy sale. Alternatively, annual corporate cover is available an annual policy covering all agent’s ticket sales.
The travel industry has battled numerously over the years on how to best protect customers, even the government body CAA (ATOL) is thinking of extending protection under its levy scheme however it is already hemorrhaging money when just covering tour operators let alone airlines which are some 100 times larger financially.
Consumer protection in the UK is limited to package holidays in the main and does not necessarily extend to independently assembled holidays which have become so much more popular with the availability of the internet. Also flight only bookings and flights purchased directly from airlines have no formal protection and it’s not just the flight part of the holiday that is not protected but all the other parts of a non packaged holiday such as ferry, train, hotel, car hire, coach, holiday homes, tours and fun parks etc.
The sad situation is that the travel industry works in a very competitive arena where commissions are small and extra charges provide another battles to remain profitable. The industry needs to focus on a simply solution so it can continue to concentrate on servicing the industry which it knows best.
The general public are also confused, they should not have to learn about protection through a confusing series of logo’s but should be informed by law, that when they buy any form of holiday component that they ‘are’ or ‘are not’ financially protected leaving the freedom of choice to the public to decide on taking out further protection.
Financial protection in the UK therefore comes down to a mix of ATOL, ABTA and insurance solutions. International Passenger Protection Ltd (IPP) are the world’s largest provider of insolvency / credit and default products to the travel industry and operate in over 30 countries. “The UK is one of the major insurance capitals in the world, with many solutions available to the travel industries problems. We are at the heart of insurance protections to the industry with the last year being our highest level in claims over almost 20 years of my company’s history, considerable higher than after September 11th 2001”, explained IPP Director Paul Mclean.
IPP had just learned of one of Europe’s largest carriers SkyEurope announcing its filing for creditor’s protection with shock waves throughout the European market. “This has become a normal day at the office, but companies such as SkyEurope just cannot continue to hemorrhaging money, sadly there will be others” Mclean stated.
Growing demand for financial protection escalated in 2008 citing IPP’s launch of the first online consumer protection policy website www.protectmyholiday.com which allows consumers to compliment their holiday with a much needed protection for only a few pounds per person.
The Travel Insurance industry is very much responding to the public need for such cover, last year press reports stated that only some 10% of travel insurers covered financially failure and already it is estimated that some 70% of travel insurance policies will include such cover. Many airlines are already including such cover within their own travel insurance policies such as British Airways, Ryanair, Easy Jet and Flybe.
“As we now start to see bigger failures on the horizon, it’s critical that the travel industry take out insurance protection for their business exposures and to cover their clients, such large exposures could easily ruin travel companies in the UK” Mclean concluded.
INFORMATION
• Contact:
Mr Paul Mclean, Director – Tel: 020 8776 3750 – Fax: 020 8776 3751 – Email : paul.mclean@ipplondon.co.uk
Addres: IPP House, 22-26 Station Road, West Wickham, Kent BR4 0PR. United Kingdom
• ProtectMyHoliday.com is a trading name of International Passenger Protection Limited (IPP) formed in 1990.
• IPP is the largest and main supplier of Scheduled Airline Failure Insurance (SAFI) and cover for other parts of the holiday in the UK and world-wide operating in over 30 countries.
• IPP operates as an underwriting agency on behalf of insurers and re-insurers who’s combined net worth exceeds Euro 100 Billion
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International Passenger Protection Ltd (IPP) is the largest provider of travel credit / default and insolvency insurance in the world operating in over 30 countries. IPP acts as an underwriting agency representing insurers and re-insurers with a combined net worth in excess of Euro 100 billion.
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