The UK's Fleetway Travel has ceased trading after being in business for 45 years the firm confirmed today.
Fleetway Travel which operated under several other brand names had been experiencing great cash flow pressures as a direct result of the coronavirus COVID-19 and the subsequent travel restrictions and border closures. On top of that was the lack of new bookings and the growing pressure to refund customers' money for cancelled trips.
The firm's management had been looking for other funding opportunities and avenues, but none was forthcoming and the company put into administrations today.
It's understood that around 6500 holidays will be affected by the news, with the majority of those being protected under the ATOL scheme. Its head, Andy Cohen said: “We understand this will be concerning news for anyone who has booked to travel with the company or has had their booking cancelled. It is a sad day for the industry when a long-established business like Fleetway ceases trading.
However, the Atol scheme exists for exactly this kind of situation and we are making arrangements so all Atol protected customers may make a claim.” Thankfully, because of the current crisis, there were no customers overseas at the time of the collapse.
Fleetway employed 62 staff members between its London and Sheffield offices and sold holidays and travel arrangments under the brands Exclusive Luxury Breaks, Explorer’s Collection, Late Bargains, Luxury Holiday Collection, Phone & Fly, Sail Away, Silversurfers Holidays and Travelsmart.
The UK's leading travel agents newspaper TTG said that 49 staff were immediately made redundant, the other members of staff would be retained to help close down the firm, which served more than 60,000 people each year.
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