XL planes were 'flown home empty' while thousands of passengers were left stranded

The British Airline Pilots’ Association says it is ‘ludicrous’ the biggest repatriation effort since Dunkirk was not able to use the planes.

It has written to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly demanding the Government change the rules to allow the assets of aviation companies which go bust to be commandeered
to rescue stranded passengers.

Grounded: Planes were flown back to Manchester airport after XL went bust

It also wants an enquiry into the collapse of airline and holiday group XL, including the sell-off of subsidiaries as the drama unfolded.

Britain's third largest package holiday operator XL Leisure Group grounded all flights last Friday after going into administration, leaving tens of thousands of holidaymakers stranded.

BALPA said  21 of XL's aircraft were grounded abroad - each of which could carry up to 170 passengers - or 3,570 in total for each trip. The planes could have shuttled passengers back, said BALPA.

Britain's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) insists its repatriation  mission to return  40,000 passengers  has gone well, but many passengers on the ground around the globe have branded it 'a fiasco.'

XL said it had been unable to obtain fresh funding after suffering from high fuel prices and the economic downturn.

Before its collapse it  flew to over 50 destinations and carried 2.3 million passengers last year. It had 1,700 staff worldwide.

Not only were the XL planes grounded, but in many instances airport vehicles were placed in front of them - as if  being 'clamped' -  to prevent them taking off.

BALPA says these planes could have shuttled back and forth returning passengers to the UK.

A BALPA spokesman said;' We are asking  Ruth Kelly to initiate action so that there is no repeat of aircraft being flown home empty while thousands of passengers are left stranded abroad.

'At present the planes of an insolvent airline are viewed by the administrator as assets. The administrators say they are not in the business of being travel agents. They aren't interested.

'So we had a ludicrous situation where pilots were willing to fly the planes back with passengers, but weren't allowed to - even though there were tens of thousands of people stranded.

'The Government needs to change the law to allow these planes to be used in future to bring people home.

'This is not rocket science.The Government has just made sweeping changes to competition law to allow a major banking merger, and has suddenly outlawed short-selling on the stock exchange to maintain economic stability. So it can change the rules when it wants to.'

Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson also backs a review of the rules for rescues in such cases: ‘It does not make sense for aircraft to be lying idle.’

Jim McAuslan, BALPA General Secretary said: 'Our members have many concerns about the collapse and want the Government to put it under the microscope.'

The BALPA  letter to Miss Kelly declares: 'We take our hats off to the brilliant way in which the repatriation has been handled and many of our members outside XL have gone the extra mile to get customers home.

'What our XL members do not understand is why they have not been able to play a part in this.

‘Indeed, our members have been flying back empty aircraft. We would like you to sponsor a high level review of this as well as the wider issue of how the industry compensation scheme works.''

After a spate of collapses, including Zoom, British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh says the  airline industry is in its deepest crisis ever - surpassing that of the  9/11 terror attacks and the Gulf War.

BALPA also wants a high level review of how compensation claims are dealt with and called on the Government to help workers suddenly laid off by the crisis.

Mr  McAuslan said in his letter to the Transport Secretary: "The sale of the French and German subsidiaries on the day of the collapse has surprised our members and they want an explanation.

'It is being suggested to pilots who are owed money that the cupboard is bare. Well, someone's cupboard is not bare.'

The letter also asks the Government to help the pilots and other employees suddenly laid off by XL's collapse and to scrap further taxes on the aviation industry, including plans for a controversial aviation duty.