Type
Bankruptcy
Country
World
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
UK, Poland, Spain, Switzerland
Sector
Hotel / Restaurants
Accommodation And Food Service Activities
Accommodation
55.1 - Hotels and similar accommodation

451 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
15 July 2016
Employment effect (start)
15 July 2016
Foreseen end date

Description

Holiday provider Lowcost Travelgroup has gone into administration, causing the loss of all 451 jobs associated with the company. The company had been running since 2004, providing low cost flights and accommodation. The majority of these jobs are based in Poland, with 120 in Crawley and the rest in Switzerland and Majorca.

The abrupt bankruptcy has been blamed on interplay of four factors; competition, the UK’s EU referendum, the strengthening of the Euro against the pound, and the threat of terrorism. The firm has already ceased trading, with customers abroad and that have made bookings (27,000 and 11,0000 respectively) advised to seek compensation; 60% of these customers are British nationals. The company had a turnover of £500 million (EUR 596 million) last year. The company moved to Spain in 2013, such a move entailed that their customers were no longer under the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Atol protection scheme.


Sources

  • 15 July 2016: BBC
  • 18 July 2016: Crawley Observer
  • 15 July 2016: Guardian

Citation

Eurofound (2016), Lowcostholidays, Bankruptcy in World, factsheet number 88230, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/88230.