http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/30/theairlineindustry.cheapflig= hts Airline collapse: Zoom passengers forced to pay thousands to get home James Sturcke The Guardian, Saturday August 30 2008 Passengers left stranded by the collapse of the long-haul budget airline Zo= om have described how they were forced to pay thousands of pounds for alter= native flights. Thousands of passengers were stranded in Britain and Canada by the collapse= of the airline, which grounded all flights on Thursday night. At least ano= ther 40,000 customers with bookings were also affected. Not all of them wil= l be able to claim compensation. Zoom, which operated from five UK airports, blamed its financial difficulti= es on the economic downturn and the rise in oil prices. Its UK managing dir= ector, Jonathan Hinkles, said the firm's fuel bill had increased by =A315m,= a rise of about =A380-=A390 on the cost of a return ticket to Canada. People were stranded at Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast. Zoom also flew from G= atwick and Manchester to eight destinations in Canada and a number of locat= ions in the US. Zoom's cash crisis became apparent on Wednesday after a flight from Paris w= as grounded at Calgary airport in Canada. On Thursday, the Civil Aviation A= uthority instructed Glasgow airport to detain a flight bound for Halifax, N= ova Scotia, over the non-payment of charges. Hinkles said the collapse was brought about by one of the leasing companies= , which owned a Zoom aircraft, taking action to seize the plane. He told th= e BBC this "set a chain of events in motion from which it was impossible fo= r us to recover". "We have been working on a financing deal for the company for two months an= d we have been making very good progress with that," he said. "We fully exp= ected we would be able to continue flying but the problems that we encounte= red during the day [on Thursday], however, with a number of aircraft being = seized by airports authorities, such as the one in Glasgow, made it very di= fficult. Clearly you can't run an airline without aircraft." Hinkles said 20,000 people in the UK had bookings with Zoom until the end o= f 2009, and a similar number in Canada. The CAA said the figure was 60,000 = and the number of British passengers stranded overseas by Zoom's collapse w= as 4,500. Passengers were told of the company's collapse as they waited into the even= ing. Aaron Steele, 30, from Ottawa, was returning from his honeymoon in Sco= tland. "We're travelling from Edinburgh to Ottawa via New York. It was arou= nd =A31,000 for the flights plus we had to pay for a night in a hotel," he = said. "We tried to get a flight until 11pm last night [Thursday] then reali= sed we'd have to come back this morning [Friday]." Xander Forsyth, from Edinburgh, was stuck at Halifax airport, Canada, with = more than 200 Zoom passengers. Their flight to London had been delayed over= night. They boarded on Thursday, waiting several more hours before being to= ld to get off. Police were waiting as they filed into the lounge. No one was allowed to le= ave and tempers began to flare, with children crying and the heavy security= presence causing growing unease. Forsyth, a graphic designer, said he Googled the word Zoom on his iPhone an= d found out about the airline's crisis. "With a slight fear of being tackle= d by police, I hopped on the highest counter I could see and shouted out th= e news," he said. Steve Ward, who had been visiting his mother in Halifax, booked business-cl= ass tickets back to London on Iceland Air. They initially wanted to charge = extra for each of his three young children, he said, but ultimately let the= group travel for C$7,000 (=A33,650), half the usual one-way rate. =0A=0A=0A <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".