U.K. Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis has unveiled plans to update the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (ATOL) scheme to give more protection to air travellers who book different parts of their travel itinerary through different sources. In the past only people booking their whole trip through a travel agency have been given ATOL protection but with the way in which people now book trips the system of protection needs to be updated. Adonis said that ATOL had been drawn up to protect travellers back in the 1970s and now needed to be redrawn because the idea of a package holiday had become more blurred. He said that he recognized the need for travellers to make informed choices about their holidays and also feel reassured that they are receiving the right sort of protection when booking a holiday.

Adonis has also said that he realizes the need to place the customer’s needs first when it came to the regulation of airports and as such would be appointing someone to look after those needs. Adonis said that he wanted to make sure that the proposed changes would ensure that the U.K. aviation industry remained both competitive and efficient.

He also talked about the Civil Aviation Authority and how it would now be given the duty of looking after the passenger’s interests at the country’s airports. He said that Passenger Focus would build on the work of the Air Transport Users Council and will be given the power to represent air passengers in the same way that they already represent train travellers.