Kiss Flights has fallen into administration suddenly and to make matters worse, it's at the peak of the holiday season. Flight Options recently announced that its group of businesses, including Kiss Flights, had stopped trading. It is believed that the travel plans of about 60,000 customers have been affected. Up to 13,000 people are thought to be stranded abroad. It was reported that BDO were lined up to act as the administrators yesterday for the beleaguered travel operator. The holiday firm is the latest in a string of related businesses to fold this year. Budget flight firms, like Kiss Flights, that relied on low margins and emergency reserves have been hit hard by the economic downturn. Mark Wilson of Baker Tilly commented on the apparent epidemic: “Government statistics published this month revealed a 12 per cent drop in people travelling overseas for their holidays in the twelve months to June 2010. At the same time, visits for overseas businesses fell by 19 per cent.” London-based Flight Options bought Kiss in January 2009 from a company run by the former bosses of XL Leisure Group, which failed in September 2008. It has been predicted that more travel firms will fail as they fight against the tide of troubles affecting the industry including the walkouts of British Airways cabin crew.
