Speaking at Abta’s Travel Convention in Tokyo, its chief executive Mark Tanzer said following the collapse of Thomas Cook the question of scheduled flight failure remained.

“After the Monarch failure, and at our request, the government commissioned a review of airline insolvency protection.

“This review was a thorough and professional piece of work, which now sits with the secretary of state for transport. Unfortunately, it just sits, and change will come too late to help in the case of Thomas Cook.

“The review recognised the problem of an unfunded obligation – or political need – to repatriate, and recommended a risk based insurance scheme to provide funds for repatriating stranded citizens.”

He went on to commend the CAA’s response to Cook’s failure.

“It is a sad reflection that I stood on the stage two years ago in the Azores immediately following the failure of Monarch, and in the middle of a government-led repatriation.

“At that time I commended the efforts of the CAA in their repatriation, but called for a better system to deal with airline failures.

“I repeat myself today.

“The CAA has now completed an enormous job of repatriation, organised at short notice, to bring home 150,000 people, largely in line with their planned schedules.

“The experience for customers in other countries where no government exercise has taken place has been much worse.

“I would like to take this opportunity publicly to thank the CAA for a repatriation job well done, because I don’t think anyone else will.”