2013-05-21 — /travelprnews.com/ — Michael Medlicott has been elected as the new Chair of the Air Travel Trust (ATT), following his appointment as a trustee by Dame Deirdre Hutton, Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Michael was elected as Chair by the existing trustees of the ATT. He has been a member of the CAA Board since 2010 and will bring many years of travel and tourism experience to his new role. He previously held a senior management position at Delta Airlines, sat on the Board of the Manchester Airports Group and was also the Chief Executive of the British Tourist Authority.
Michael will replace Roger Mountford, who has stepped down as Chair of the ATT having been in the role since 2003. Roger’s time as Chair has included dealing with the impact of the failure of XL – the largest tour operator failure in ATOL’s history – which saw 44,000 holidaymakers repatriated and nearly £48m in refunds paid out to consumers. Most recently, Roger has been closely involved with the successful delivery of ATOL reform and has overseen the ATT’s return to surplus – as confirmed in the 2012/2013 ATT accounts.
Dame Deirdre Hutton, Chair of the CAA, said:
“As Chair of the ATT, Roger has provided strong leadership during a time of significant challenge for the travel industry. We are extremely grateful for all his efforts over the last 10 years – not least in overseeing the fund’s return to surplus, and the implementation of recent changes that have really strengthened the protection ATOL provides to holidaymakers.
“We now welcome Michael Medlicott as the new Chair of the ATT, and I am confident that he will use his considerable experience of the travel industry to embed the changes in the ATOL scheme and ensure consumers continue to be protected effectively.”
Michael Medlicott takes up the position of Chair of the ATT with immediate effect.
For further media information contact the CAA Press Office on: 0207 453 6030; press.office@caa.co.uk
Follow the CAA on Twitter at @UK_CAA
Notes to Editors:
1. The Air Travel Trust (ATT) is the primary source of funding when an ATOL holder fails. The trust’s funds are administered on behalf of the ATT by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
2. One of the CAA’s principal responsibilities is to manage the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (ATOL) scheme, which provides protection to holidaymakers from being stranded abroad or losing money when purchasing air holidays and flights from licensed tour operators. If an ATOL holder fails, the CAA is responsible for ensuring customers are either repatriated back to the UK or receive a refund of payments made.
3. The ATT’s main source of income comes from the ATOL Protection Contribution (APC) that each ATOL holder is required to make when it accepts a booking under its licence. In some circumstances an ATOL holder will have also provided a bond, or other form of security, which is used in the first instance to protect customers.
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