Trade-only operator has minority allocation of fl ights available on its website
Kiss Flights denies
ATOL breach claim
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@rbi.co.uk
Kiss Flights and its parent
company Meridian Aviation
have denied offering seats for
next summer in excess of their
ATOL licence.
Seat-only operator Kiss
launched in September following
XL Leisure Group’s
collapse and is targeting the
market vacated by Freedom
Flights – XL’s former seat-only
operation. It sells through the
trade from the same offi ce as
Meridian Aviation.
Meridian holds an ATOL
for 25,000 passengers for
summer 2009. Yet the Kiss
Flights website appears to
offer more than 137,000 return
seats between May 1 and
October 29 2009 – with two
Cyprus hotels back water-saving scheme
Exclusive
An industry project to conserve
water on drought-hit Cyprus
has resulted in water-savings
at more than 100 hotels used
by the UK trade.
Cyprus is in the second year
of a serious drought and
dependent on underground
water that recent rain has done
little to replenish. Yet its economy
depends on tourists.
A pilot water-saving
programme, co-funded by
www.travelweekly.co.uk
Moss: ‘Bookings for 2009
are few and far between’
aircraft fl ying twice a day from
Gatwick and Manchester
to 11 destinations in the eastern
Mediterranean, Egypt and
Tenerife.
Meridian managing director
Andre Cashia confi rmed
industry charity The Travel
Foundation and the Cyprus
Tourism Organisation, began
in May – overseen by the
Cyprus Sustainable Tourism
Initiative, which includes
hoteliers and trade representatives.
Water and energy use was
measured at 106 properties
and the results of conservation
measures collated monthly. By
October, hotels were reporting
water savings of between 5%
and 15%.
Meridian’s ATOL covers the
Kiss programme, but said:
“A lot of the fl ying involves
third parties. We specialise in
selling third party to a number
of independent operators.”
These third party operators
include Mark Warner,
“a number of Egyptian companies”
and “a Turkish operator
in the UK”, he said.
Former Freedom Flights
managing director Paul Moss,
who joined Kiss in September,
confi rmed: “We do not have
the whole aircraft – we have
seat allocations. The rest are
sold to third-party operators.
“We would need to vary our
licence if we decided to sell
more, and we would have to do
that prior to selling the seats.”
He added: “Sales are going
well in light of the economic
The economy in drought-hit
Cyprus depends on tourists
Opinion We must pull together
in the current climate: page 31
situation and we are happy
with the trade support. But it
is very early to say whether
we will vary the licence. Bookings
for 2009 are few and far
between.”
A Civil Aviation Authority
spokesman said: “Companies
should have an ATOL to cover
the number of passengers they
plan to carry. The CAA will
consider an application to
extend an ATOL on its merits.”
Meridian is the general
sales agent for Air Malta. However,
the Kiss programme will
be operated by Stockholmbased
Viking Airlines, which
will use two 189-seat Boeing
737-800s.
For daily news go to
www.travelweekly.co.uk
The Sunrise Beach Hotel in
Protaras won an award for best
results, having cut its water
use by 15% from 260 to 220
litres a day per person. It also
cut its energy use by 9%.
Other properties, such as
the Aliathon holiday village
and Alexander the Great Hotel
in Paphos recorded similar
savings.
Full details of the project will
be unveiled at a Travel Foundation
seminar at World Travel
Market in London next week.
IN BRIEF
BMI TO CUT US ROUTES
FROM MANCHESTER
BMI is pulling its transatlantic
fl ights from Manchester
airport, leading to the loss of
up to 140 jobs in the region.
The airline’s service to Chicago
will terminate on January 14
while fl ights to Las Vegas,
Barbados and Antigua will
cease after Easter next year.
NINE JOBS TO GO AT
YOUTRAVEL.COM
Bed bank youtravel.com is to
make nine staff redundant.
Three administrative, sales and
customer services staff will go
from the UK and six operations
roles from the Athens head
offi ce. The management
buyout of agency Qwerty
Travel is the main reason for
the UK redundancies.
TWACADEMY E-NEWS
COMING YOUR WAY
The TWacademy is ensuring
agents are kept up to date
thanks to a new newsletter.
The monthly e-newsletter
will keep subscribers to
the academy informed of
promotions, competitions
to destination news. See
www.twacademy.co.uk.
MORE CRUISELINES
SCRAP FUEL CHARGE
Oceania Cruises and Regent
Seven Seas Cruises have
scrapped fuel supplements for
all sailings departing in 2010.
For trips in 2009, the company
will continue to charge a
$15 per passenger, per day
supplement. Any changes to
this will be assessed on a
quarterly basis and refunds
given as onboard credit.
For daily news go to
www.travelweekly.co.uk
November 7 2008 | Travel Weekly | 5
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