Zoom goes bust
Transatlantic budget carrier Zoom Airlines has suspended all flights and is applying to go into administration.
Thousands of passengers due to fly with Zoom have been told to rebook with other carriers, and to contact credit or debit card issuers about refunds.
Earlier, two of the airline’s jets were held at Glasgow and Cardiff airports.
UK-Canadian Zoom blamed its problems on the “horrendous” price of jet fuel - which had added $50m (£27.3m) to annual fuel bills - and the economic slowdown.
Zoom Airlines Inc. was founded in May 2002 as a low-fare transatlantic airline. The carrier, based in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, was conceived by two Scottish brothers, John and Hugh Boyle, to fill an opportunity in the Canadian leisure travel market.
The two brothers entered the holiday business in the 1980s with their startup company Falcon Holidays in their native Scotland, which was later sold for a large profit to a major United Kingdom tour operator. Their next venture, Direct Holidays, was started in 1991 and gained strength and market share in Scotland, becoming a household name and the largest ‘direct sell’ travel company in the UK. After the sale of Direct Holidays in 1998 to MyTravel Group for £84m (C$200 million), Hugh relocated to Canada. Boyle started GO Travel Direct Vacations, introducing the ‘direct sell’ method. This business model eliminates the role of travel agents, passing the savings back to the holiday maker. In taking this business model one step further, Boyle launched Zoom Airlines, removing the remaining third parties from the booking process.
In November 2006, Zoom Airlines and Flyglobespan.com embarked on a codeshare agreement. Zoom Airlines operated two of three weekly Manchester to Toronto Flyglobespan flights. Zoom flights from Toronto to Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, London Gatwick, London Stansted and Manchester were available for booking on the Flyglobespan website, as well as Ottawa to London Gatwick. This agreement was only for the 2006/2007 winter season, as Flyglobespan subsequently commenced their own Canadian program.
In the summer of 2006, John Boyle founded a sister company in the UK known as Zoom Airlines Limited. It operated until the 28th August, 2008, when it ceased trading along with the original Canadian company.