BRITAIN’S biggest peacetime repatriation is continuing after Monarch’s collapse left thousands of holidaymakers stranded.

The country’s fifth-biggest airline has cancelled 750,000 bookings with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) scrambled to bring Brits home on charter planes.

DUNKIRK SPIRIT: Biggest peacetime repatriation continues

Around 110,000 tourists were left high and dry with 32,000 Brits due to fly back from Spain this week.

The CAA said nearly 12,000 Brits had been flown home on 60 flights since Monday.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “This is a hugely distressing situation for British holidaymakers abroad – and my first priority is to help them get back to the UK.

“I have immediately ordered the country’s biggest ever peacetime repatriation to fly about 110,000 passengers who could otherwise have been left stranded abroad.”

The UK taxpayer is set to foot the initial bill for getting tourists home.

People stuck overseas are being advised to check their flight booking has an Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (ATOL) certificate to provide financial protection.

Financial Adviser Louise Claro, MD at Circle Financial Services, told BBC Five Live: “Check to see when you made the booking if you received an ATOL certificate.

“If you booked with Monarch on their website you will get issued an ATOL certificate within 24 hour.”

However, bookings made after December 2016 through Monarch are unlikely to have ATOL protection.

Some 2,100 Monarch workers are set to lose their jobs following the troubled airline’s implosion.

Last year, up until October 2016, Monarch carried five million passengers with rivals Ryanair flying 17 million in August 2016 alone.

 

 

 

 

 

Subscribe to the Olive Press

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.