Independent UK: Warning: 30 airlines will go bust this year

[marmar]

Warning: 30 airlines will go bust this year

By David Prosser, Deputy Business Editor, and Martin Hickman
Saturday, 13 September 2008



Up to 30 more airlines will go bankrupt before Christmas, the chief executive of British Airways warned yesterday, as the biggest rescue of stranded passengers in travel industry history began.

Willie Walsh said the scenes of chaos in which 85,000 passengers have been stranded at locations around the world after the collapse of XL, Britain's third largest holiday company, would become a familiar sight as the travel industry struggled with soaring fuel costs and the effects of a global economic downturn.

"We are in the worst trading environment the industry has ever seen", said Mr Walsh. "We have already seen 30 or so airlines go bust this year and it would be fair to expect a similar number of casualties worldwide over the next three to four months."

Mr Walsh also announced up to 1,400 redundancies at his own airline yesterday.

Travel industry experts said smaller airlines and tour operators were most at risk and warned passengers to book in a way that ensured they got their money back if an airline went bankrupt. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/warning-30-airlines-will-go-bust-this-year-928774.html

[southernleftylady]

1. I am a flight attendant be laid off once.. i pray that it doesnt happen again :(