A tour operator who cancelled flights to the Champions League final has claimed it will be taking legal action against the airline and the broker.
WorldChoice Sports has apologised to Liverpool FC fans who were stranded at Liverpool John Lennon Airport on Saturday, May 28 but added it could have happened to any operator putting the blame on its broker and the airline. A spokesperson for the Widnes -based tour operator told the ECHO the flights were cancelled due to airline Air Caraïbes failing to obtain the necessary third country operator permits from the Civil Aviation Authority.
The aircraft from the French airline company was due to perform two rotations to take fans to the final. But the spokesperson for WorldChoice Sports added they were only told by broker Air Charter Services about the lack of permits less than 24 hours before the day of the final.
READ MORE: Liverpool fans sent refund update after Champions League final flights cancelled
The permits are reportedly a requirement for European carriers since Brexit. WorldChoice Sports' owner told the ECHO : "This was a very distressing situation for myself, my staff, and of course in due course the customers."
WorldChoice Sports claimed to have found replacement flights but couldn't accommodate all fans leaving around 80 people stranded at the airport. The ECHO has been told all refunds have now been processed.
But WorldChoice Sports added it would be directing customers to the broker and airline for any claims they may have regarding compensation. The tour operator claimed it will also take legal action against both both Air Charter Services and Air Caraïbes.
A spokesperson for Air Charter Services told the ECHO it hadn't received any legal action but added: "We appreciate WorldChoice Sports are dealing with what we are told is 80 unhappy passengers who were not able to fit on the replacement aircraft and we are in touch with both WorldChoice Sports and the airline and will do what we can to help resolve the situation for all involved."
In regard to the lack of permits the spokesperson added: “As far as we have been told, Air Caraïbes applied for permits, but did not receive them from the UK CAA in time to perform the charter to Paris for WorldChoice Sports as had been expected. Permits are applied for by the airline and unfortunately, whilst we can see when permits are granted and published, it is the airline’s responsibility to inform us about relevant information regarding the progress of active applications, as they are in touch with the relevant civil aviation authorities directly.
"We expect airlines to inform us whether they have any reason to believe all relevant permits will not be granted in time for a contracted flight, and as such will not be able to operate the flight, so the charter customer can be informed. In this case, shortly before the departure date, Air Caraïbes communicated the fact they were unable to perform the contracted flight as they had just been informed that the permits would not be received in the timeframe required as expected, so an alternative aircraft with relevant permissions in place was sourced last minute which operated to Paris, flying around 400 of the 480 passengers.
"The correspondence between the airline and the UK CAA has not been shared with us as we are not involved in arranging the permits, so we cannot confirm more about the application other than what we have been told by Air Caraïbes."
Air Caraïbes has also been contacted by the ECHO for comment.
