The European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Association (ECTAA) has called for urgent, mandatory airline insolvency protection in Europe following the recent bankruptcy of Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi), which left EUR8 million euros (USD9 million) in unpaid passenger refunds, including more than EUR5 million (USD5.6 million) sold through travel agents and tour operators.
Air Belgium ceased passenger operations in September 2023 to focus on cargo and aircraft leasing. It subsequently entered judicial reorganisation and, unable to recover, was declared bankrupt on April 30, 2025 leaving "thousands of passengers" and intermediaries without refunds, the ECTAA claimed. The airline's cargo business was sold to French maritime logistics giant CMA CGM, which will retain the Air Belgium brand.
In a statement, the ECTAA highlighted that travel agents and tour operators - mostly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) - bear an "unfair financial burden" when airlines collapse as they are legally required to provide an alternative ticket to customers if the ticket has been sold as part of a travel package, often without any prospect of recovering the original funds from the insolvent airline.
"With airline tickets usually having to be paid upfront, often months in advance, there is a fundamental risk involved for travel intermediaries, customers, and taxpayers alike," it noted.
The association argued that, given "frequent airline failures [and] 1,200 commercial passenger airline failures in the past 25 years", European Union policymakers must include airline collapse protection in the ongoing revisions of the Air Passenger Rights Regulation (Regulation 261/2004). It suggests a system similar to Denmark’s air ticket guarantee fund to ensure consumers and intermediaries are not left financially vulnerable.
