XL collapse hits holiday plans of 350

Wednesday 1st October 2008, 2:55PM BST.

THE half-term holidays of 350 Islanders due to travel to Cyprus have been ruined as a result of the collapse of holiday company XL.

Many have scrapped plans to fly away from the Island for the week as a result. The Co-op Travelmaker store in Don Street chartered two XL aircraft for direct flights from Jersey to Paphos in the last week of October.

When XL was placed in administration, Travelmaker made desperate, but ultimately unsuccessful, efforts to find a replacement, contacting more than 100 airlines.

At one point Travelmaker general manager Carl Winn thought he had managed to secure a replacement aircraft when he reached a verbal agreement with a carrier. But the airline did not provide a written contract early enough and as a result Travelmaker told their clients that the flight programme would not run.