Kiss Flights collapses

More than 60,000 travellers face having disrupted holiday plans following the collapse of travel firm Kiss Flights.

The CAA reports that the "vast majority" of holidaymakers will get their money back in the long-term and that approximately 13,000 people who are currently on holiday, will get home from their destinations as normal. However, several thousand unlucky holidaymakers who have booked package deals through the company will be left with nothing.

Kiss Flights, a British-based firm that operated flights to Greece, Egypt, Turkey and the Canary Islands, folded on Tuesday night after its owner Flight Options ceased trading.

Flight Options chief executive Gary Ash said he was "devastated" by his firm's collapse.

"Over the past nine months we have been fighting in a very difficult travel market. The effect of the volcanic ash was devastating.

"When the banks were in trouble the government bailed them out, but when the tour operators had to cope with the enforced closure of the skies and the expensive cost of repatriation the government did not help.

"On top of poor yields and very late booking trends, our fate was sealed by very poor forward sales."

Kiss is the latest in a series of failures, which include Goldtrail Holidays and Sun4u in recent weeks. The seat-only company, which launched in September 2008 following the collapse of the XL Leisure Group, had recently signed a deal to run the new direct-sell website of Viking Airlines – 50% owned by former XL Chief Executive Phil Wyatt.