Zoom collapse hits thousands
Hundreds of passengers have been left stranded and thousands more have been left without bookings after low cost long haul airline Zoom collapsed.
The carrier blamed rising fuel costs and the poor economic situation for suspending all its flights.
Zoom was founded in 2001 and flew mainly to Canada from Glasgow, Gatwick, Belfast, Cardiff and Manchester.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were offering “special” fares for passengers who have flights cancelled by Zoom.
Up to 45,000 people who have booked to fly with Zoom in the next few months have been told to book with other carriers. However many of these passengers are not able to find affordable alternatives and so will have to abandon plans.
Zoom has estimated 40,000 passengers including 10,400 people based in the UK had made bookings with Zoom over the next year.
Chairman of Zoom, Hugh Boyle said “We are trying to make as many passengers as possible aware of their options in terms of alternative flights and the possibility of securing refunds for the flights they booked with Zoom.”
He added “As things stand, there is good availability of alternative flights as we have passed the main holiday period. We believe the majority of passengers who booked with us should be able to secure an alternative flight.”
The UK managing director of Zoom, Jonathan Hinkles, put the carrier’s troubles down to the “significant” increase in the price of aviation fuel and a dramatic downturn in the economy.
He said the fuel bill for the airline had increased by around £15m in the last year. This represents a £80 to £90 on the cost of a ticket to Canada.
Mr Hinkles explained that the collapse was brought by one of the leasing companies which owns one of the Zoom’s aircraft taking action to seize the plane.
He said it “set a chain of events in motion from which it was impossible for us to recover”.
Mr Hinkles added “We have been working on a financing deal for the company for two months and we have been making very good progress with that. We fully expected we would be able to continue flying but the problems that we encountered during the day yesterday, however, with a number of aircraft being seized by airports authorities, such as the one in Glasgow, made it very difficult. Clearly you can’t run an airline without aircraft.”
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said its Air Travel Organisers Licensing (Atol) protection scheme did not cover passengers who booked flights directly with airlines like Zoom.
Customers are being encouraged to approach debit or credit card companies to seek a refund. And if they have booked through a tour operator they should contact them about alternative arrangements.