The much-anticipated update from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on its proposals to reform ATOL landed this week, with the regulator requesting more information from the industry.

As I said in my media statement on Tuesday, it is good to get the latest thinking from the CAA and also have the chance to provide further feedback, particularly given the first-stage consultation occurred at the height of COVID-related disruption within the industry.

Responding to this request for information will be a big focus of ABTA’s work over the coming months, as we seek to represent your views to the CAA on its proposals. To do that, we need your feedback and there will be lots of opportunities for members to share their thoughts.

We plan to hold a specific video conference call entirely on the ATOL proposals; this is likely to be early March. Information on this session will be sent out soon and we encourage as many members as possible to take part.

We have already been in touch with our policy committees – which include representatives from travel agents and tour operators, large and small – to gather their views and we shall be running sessions with them in February. 

As part of our process we shall also be reconvening our focus groups on financial protection, which include representatives from the travel industry and the main financial services sectors, including banks, merchant acquirers, bond obligors and financial failure insurance providers, in order to understand the wider range of thoughts and opinions. It’s a reflection of ABTA’s credibility and standing in this field that we’re able to bring together such a group of industry leaders.

There has been much discussion at industry events about the next stage of the CAA’s proposals, and regulatory reform was a topic at TravLaw’s Big Tent event last night, where I spoke about how we’ll be working to represent members’ views in this area. I also talked about what we need from the Government and our current policy priorities. These are points I’ll be echoing next week when I attend the first Aviation Council.

If you’re interested in hearing more about ATOL reform, outside of our consultation process, we’ll be exploring these topics at some of our upcoming events including Travel Finance, where Michael Budge, Head of ATOL at the CAA will be speaking, and also Travel Law in May.

You can find out more about these events here.

Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive