CONSUMER RIGHTS:THOUSANDS OF IRISH passengers have been left stranded after XL Leisure Group, Britain's third-largest tour operator, grounded all flights yesterday after going into administration.
The group, which operates a number of charter flights from the Republic, collapsed after failing to secure a financial rescue package.
According to the Commissioner for Aviation Regulation, Cathal Guiomard, slightly more than 1,000 Irish holidaymakers are abroad with XL Holidays, and about 3,000 more had travel plans with the operator over the next month.
Two flights from Dublin - to Skiathos, in Greece, and Reus, in Spain - due to depart yesterday were among the flights cancelled.
Guiomard said the Commission for Aviation Regulation was working to arrange aircraft to bring stranded holidaymakers home and would post information on its website. Yesterday lunchtime it announced that Monarch aircraft would be able to bring XL holidaymakers back from Reus tomorrow.
He advised anyone who had booked with XL Holidays to download a claim form from www.aviationreg.ie. Customers who had booked flights through XL Airways should contact their tour operator or travel agent, he said.
About 67,000 people are stranded abroad, according to XL Leisure Group, which said it had been hit by rising fuel costs and the credit crunch.
See today's news pages, in the main paper, for full coverage of the XL Leisure Group collapse. For the latest updates, log on to www.irishtimes.com
