A1 Travel ceases trading as Monarch collapse impact felt

According to a well placed source A1’s demise came about due to the impact of the collapse of Monarch, the UK’s fifth largest carrier which failed at the beginning of this month. Continue reading →

Chadwell Travel which trades as A1 Travel has gone out of business due to costs incurred following the collapse of Monarch Airlines.

The Ilford based online and call centre agency and Atol holder was licenced to carry just under 100,000 passengers a year by the CAA.

Broadway Travel has taken over future bookings and will re-protect the accommodation part of holidays for customers who have not yet travelled.

According to a well placed source A1’s demise came about due to the impact of the collapse of Monarch, the UK’s fifth largest carrier which failed at the beginning of this month.

Although the CAA have repatriated all Monarch customers overseas at no cost, A1 had forward bookings for which it was liable to find new flights.

The Monarch failure and Ryanair’s programme of cancellations following its pilot rota crisis have pushed prices up for short-haul beach flying.

A1’s financial troubles were understood to have come to light this week as the half term break loomed and as the firm fell behind on payments to suppliers.

Last ditch attempts to save the company failed and it was put into administration this afternoon.

Andy Cohen, CAA head of Atol, said: “I can confirm that the company has ceased trading. It happened only recently so there is no advice available at the moment.

“We are trying to establish the facts to see how we can best help those consumers who have got holidays booked with the company.”

“We are sorry to see a company that has been around for a long time cease trading.”

A1 Travel was part of the TravelChecker group and was a member of Abta. As well as an office in the UK it operated a call centre in India.

It was among the travel agents that were culled by Teletext Holidays when it originally cut the number of suppliers it worked with to 15 in 2013 before agreeing an exclusive deal with Truly Travel.