Hundreds of companies make use of ATOL extension
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that of the 805 ATOLs that originally expired on March 31st, 704 have been granted.
The announcement comes after it was confirmed the ATOL renewal would be extended until April 28th due to the unprecedented events arising from Covid-19.
This decision was taken to enable ATOL holders to focus resources on the impact of this crisis and in looking after their customers, particularly those still abroad.
Additionally, this allowed the UK Civil Aviation Authority to concentrate its resources, as well as giving due consideration of the ATOL holders applying for renewal to reassess the basis of their application.
At the end of March, some ATOL holders’ applications had already been processed, however all ATOL holders had their licences extended to April 28th.
Under normal conditions, the Civil Aviation Authority would not consider extending the ATOL deadline and ATOL holders that submitted their applications later than recommended would not benefit from an extension to their licence.
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Despite the extension to the ATOL renewals process, the deadline for submissions remained at the end of March.
Michael Budge, head of ATOL licensing operations for the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “Given the unique and highly challenging circumstances, we have used this extension to process the outstanding applications and give due consideration to all ATOL holders submitting their renewal applications.
“The Civil Aviation Authority has also needed to review its approach to licensing ATOL holders to reflect the impact of Covid-19 and would like to thank the industry for its patience.
“Our online renewal system allowed us to efficiently approve applications from smaller companies and allowed our specialist team to focus their resources effectively while the Civil Aviation Authority team are working remotely.”
He added: “It is important that ATOL holders continue to work closely with the ATOL team, so that we can provide support where possible for the benefit of both the travel industry and consumers.”