Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to increase public awareness of the extent of the protection extended to commercial flights by ATOL.

The Government and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are taking a number of steps to increase the public’s awareness of ATOL protection. Consumers can find information about ATOL and the products and companies that are covered on the CAA’s website. CAA have also launched the ‘Pack Peace of Mind’ campaign to increase awareness of ATOL protection.

We are also taking steps to ensure consumers are informed about ATOL protection when they book a holiday. Companies that sell ATOL protected holidays are already required to provide an ATOL certificate to consumers when they purchase a protected trip or flight. We will introduce additional pre and post-sale information requirements when we implement a new EU Package Travel Directive in 2018.

The Government is continuing to keep this under review as we develop a new aviation strategy for the UK. In July 2017 we published a call for evidence on the aviation strategy, which invited views on whether further information provisions and consumer protections are needed in the sector. We will cover these issues in more detail in the next stage of the consultation.