Vacationers who had signed up for Hispania’s schedule of autumn getaway vacations were due to travel either entirely or in fixed quotas via Alma Fly, a member of the Bulgarian Alma Tour group.
Alma Tour is currently embroiled in a battle with Bulgarian Airlines, which is trying to have the company declared insolvent over unpaid debts. The Bulgarian government has intervened to help resolve the dispute.
With the sudden unavailability of the Alma Fly seats, Hispania was left with insufficient time to find new operators to service all of its holiday destinations.
”The cancellations affect about 1,000 vacationers, but it also affects all of the other travellers who’ve had to deal with the reschedulings. There have been changes to flight timetables caused by changes in air carriers,” said Hispania Office Manager Janie Niemi.
In spite of the logistical failings, Hispania has been able to maintain scheduled trips to the Azores, Malta and Hurghada using the services of Air Finland and Finnair. Hispania has promised to refund customers whose flights cannot be rescheduled in time for their trips.
Niemi said that financial losses will result from a possible decline in holiday sales this season; but at the same time, costs will also fall. However, she said she is more concerned about possible negative effects caused by a loss of customer confidence.
”Customers may also think that we caused these problems. I can say that we have no problems. The problems lie with the Alma Fly airline, which has not paid its debts to Bulgarian Airlines,” she clarified.