EasyJet Holidays flies into top 10 largest ATOL holders
EasyJet Holidays has become the eighth largest ATOL holder, but not for the 1 million passengers it planned for 2020.
It launched last November with a licence to carry just 104,500 passengers but said at that time it wanted to increase its ATOL to carry 1 million passengers this year.
In fact, it has secured an ATOL to carry 726,000 passengers, just below its sister airline, which is licenced to carry 793,874 passengers. EasyJet the airline has held an ATOL since 2018 to cover third-party product sold via its website.
Together they have a licence to carry more than 1.5 million passengers, more than On the Beach.
Jet2 has added nearly 1 million seats compared with March 2019 and is now covered to carry 4.8 million people, still second to TUI with its licence for 5.55 million, the same figure as last year.
Meanwhile, Virgin Holidays has slashed its ATOL licence passenger numbers by more than two thirds.
The operator was the 10th largest ATOL holder this time last year with a licence for 377,712 passengers, but has dropped to number 20 in the latest list, with a licence for only 110,911 people.
The top 10 ATOL holders are as follows, with their March 2019 figures in brackets:
TUI UK – 5.55m (same)
Jet2holidays – 4.8m (3.9m)
On the Beach Travel – 1.2m (1.6m)
We Love Holidays – 1.09m (1.3m)
British Airways Holidays – 1.01m (1m)
Expedia Group – 874,208 (same)
EasyJet Airline Company – 793,874 (same)
EasyJet Holidays 726,000 (N/A)
BravoNext (lastminute.com) – 640,555 (same)
Travel Republic – 555,060 (same)
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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