The European Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators proposes a mandatory airline bankruptcy fund

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 05. 22. 11:04

Despite the continuous growth of global tourism and the growing desire to travel, passengers can still be left vulnerable by the bankruptcy of an airline. This would be changed by a new proposal from the European Travel Agents and Tour Operators Association (ECTAA), which urges the establishment of a mandatory airline bankruptcy protection fund.

According to a statement sent to MTI by the organization, the proposal is also supported by the Hungarian Travel Agents Association (MUISZ).

They highlight that in the 2020s, a significant part of global air passenger traffic – which reached 4 billion – will be handled by the sector through travel agencies.

Despite this, the current regulations do not provide them with adequate protection against a possible airline bankruptcy, so they are exposed to serious financial risk.

Namely, if an airline goes bankrupt, tour operators are obliged by law to provide alternative tickets for customers.

Even if there is no hope of recovering the price of the flight tickets previously purchased by the travel agency. In this situation, the travel agencies collapsed under the disproportionate financial burden and were unable to compensate the passengers, they explain.

Zoltán Holczinger, head of the online business of Weco-Travel, which also operates repjegy.hu, said in the statement: in the past 25 years, about 1,200 commercial passenger airlines have declared bankruptcy.

The most recent airline bankruptcy was on April 30, 2025: Air Belgium became insolvent and was subject to bankruptcy proceedings. As a result, refund claims worth nearly 8 million euros were not paid, of which more than 5 million euros related to tickets sold by travel intermediaries (travel agencies and tour operators).

The European Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators, which represents approximately 80,000 travel businesses, has appealed to the European Council and is taking the initiative to resolve the current unsustainable situation by revising the regulation on air passenger rights.