West-London based Dream World Travel (Atol 9398), which was licensed to carry nearly 4,500 passengers this summer, collapsed on 26 July.

Companies House filings show the business turned over £36.1 million in the 12 months to 30 June 2020. This fell to less than £6 million in the 12 months that followed as the Covid pandemic took hold.

The CAA said on Friday (5 August) it was assessing booking data supplied by Dream World to ascertain the scale of the claims process for Atol protected bookings. "We understand the impact the failure of this company will have on the customers involved," said the CAA.

"Unfortunately, in the case of Dream World Travel, based in West London, there have been data anomalies meaning there will be a delay in opening the claims process for anyone who booked an Atol protected trip.

"We will make a further statement when we will open our online claims portal. When this happens, we will start to process claims as quickly as possible, but because of the anomalies, there may be delays with some large or complex bookings."

Dream World, which had been trading since 2006, traded under dreamworldtravel.co.uk, www.al-umrah.com, www.biznessclassflights.co.uk, www.bookholidaysonline.com, www.bookonlineflights.com and www.detltd.com.

The insolvency is being overseen by Opus Restructuring LLP, which issued a lengthy statement via dreamworldtravel.co.uk on Thursday directing Atol holders to the CAA website.

Any customers already abroad with a return ticket, or have had their tickets issued for future travel, should contact their airline to confirm if the ticket(s) are valid for travel.

Customers who have purchased flights but have not been issued tickets have been warned no tickets will be issued for travel.

"The booking is likely to be terminated automatically as a result of non-payment to the airline," the statement read. "The company cannot issue refunds and will not be issuing tickets."