ALTERNATIVE TRAVEL arrangements have been made to bring home hundreds of Irish holidaymakers affected by the collapse of Britain's third largest tour operator.
Hundreds more remain stranded at various holiday locations in Europe following the sudden collapse of XL Leisure Group and its Irish subsidiary which traded as XL Holidays.
The Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) says it has succeeded in organising special flights for those most immediately affected.
Aviation regulator Cathal Guiomard told The Irish Times he was optimistic that alternative flights could be provided for all those due to return up to the end of next week.
After this the numbers of tourists affected drop sharply, and CAR is likely to advise passengers to make their own arrangements to get home and then claim the costs involved under the industry bonding scheme.
More than 1,200 Irish tourists are abroad on packages or flights booked or operated by the collapsed tour operator, and 3,000 more were due to travel in the coming weeks.
The vast majority will qualify for refunds and/or expenses under the bonding scheme operated by the commission. Some 174 holidaymakers were due to arrive at Dublin airport from Skiathos in Greece late last night on a charter flight organised by the commission.
However, 131 passengers who were due to fly home from Reus in Spain yesterday will have to wait until Sunday to be repatriated. Their expenses for the extra two days will be paid.
Hundreds more passengers who were due to fly from Bourgas in Bulgaria to Dublin and Knock will be accommodated on a flight on the same day operated by Blue Panorama airline, according to the commission. Ireland West Knock airport said the service to Bourgas would continue to operate "for the foreseeable future" through another tour operator.
The first Irish flight to be affected yesterday was a planned 5am departure from Dublin to Reus, Spain, with 155 people on board.
It was cancelled and passengers were given a short statement explaining what had happened.
The commission was continuing last night to make alternative flight arrangements for a group of XL customers who were due to fly home from Palma in Spain today.
A spokeswoman for Cork Airport Authority said about 360 passengers who flew with XL from Cork this week were stranded in Faro.
Among the destinations served by XL from Ireland were Skiathos, Santorini and Zakynthos in Greece, Bourgas in Bulgaria, Palma and Reus in Spain, and Faro in Portugal.
Most flights were from Dublin, but the company also flew from Cork to Santorini, Ireland West (Knock) to Bourgas and Faro, and Belfast to Corfu, Paphos and Palma.
The cost of short-term aircraft rental has rocketed due to the demand from British authorities seeking to repatriate more than 65,000 XL customers who are overseas and because so many aircraft are unavailable after other recent airline collapses.
Ryanair yesterday responded to a request from the British aviation authorities by offering the use of one of its aircraft for the next two weeks.
Commenting on the collapse of XL, Ryanair deputy chief executive Michael Cawley said: "This is proof positive that passengers should not book their holidays with flaky, financially stretched airlines such as XL.
"Passengers should only book reservations with financially strong airlines such as Ryanair, whom they know will be here for the long term."
The Irish Travel Agents Association said the latest airline collapse showed the need for the introduction of bonding legislation for airlines to match that already in existence for travel agents and tour operators.
It pointed out that thousands of XL customers who made flight bookings on the company's website were not protected in the wake of its failure.