Loveholidays is planning to take five million holidaymakers abroad this year, having increased its ATOL by 25%.
The UK’s third largest ATOL holder is now licensed to sell only around 800,000 fewer holidays than the second biggest, TUI, which has a licence for 5.8m.
TUI Managing Director Neil Swanson said last month that he was pleased he had opted not to increase its capacity this year, while Jet2holidays, the largest ATOL holder has increased its licence from 6.7m passengers to 7.04m.
Neil voiced concern that operators still have a lot of capacity left to sell this summer, but, speaking at the launch of Jet2holidays’ first flights from Luton earlier this week, Jet2 boss Steve Heapy said he was ‘pretty comfortable’ with its position.
Both TUI and Jet2holidays renewed their ATOLs last September.
Loveholidays said the increase to its ATOL last month ‘cemented its position as the country’s largest OTA’. CEO Donat Rétif added: “The flexibility of our business model as an online travel agent – combined with our continued investment in our market-leading technology, product and customer experience – has fuelled our growth and demonstrates the power of loveholidays in shaping the future of the package holiday market.
“While we have firmly established ourselves as the UK and Ireland’s largest online travel agent, our vision to become Europe’s biggest and most-loved holiday provider remains clear, with further product and market expansion on the horizon.”
The Civil Aviation Authority said that a total of 1,616 businesses were licensed under the ATOL scheme by 31 March, the deadline for spring renewals, which compares to 1,630 a year ago.
Of the 674 ATOL licences that expired in March, 611 have been renewed, with a further 27 still in the application process or yet to meet licence conditions, it said. A further 36 chose not renew their licence.
The CAA’s Head of ATOL Michael Budge said: “Companies renewing their licence in March have shown they expect passenger demand will continue to grow over the next 12 months.
“Household budgets will continue to feel the squeeze in the coming months, however with holidays abroad remaining a high priority for many it is important consumers do their research before booking.”
