Reassuring, but with “asterisks”, appear the representatives responsible for the customers of the FTI group.

As the German Foreign Ministry points out on its website, those who have booked a full “holiday package” with FTI (flights, accommodation and possibly food or car rental) will be compensated by the Travel Insurance Fund. The Fund was established in 2021, after the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook, the largest tour operator in Europe at the time.

The cancellation with parallel intervention of the Fund applies, in the first stage, to those who were going to leave for holidays between June 3 and 5. For departures from June 6 onwards, a representative of FTI states on the first program of German television (ARD) that “an effort is being made, as far as possible, to find an alternative solution” so that those concerned can take their holidays normally.

Those who have booked holiday packages through FTI with other partner groups are not affected, as in this case FTI is only an intermediary and not a counterparty. However, those who have only booked a flight or only a hotel with FTI will face difficulties as the Travel Insurance Fund does not cover ‘individual’ travel products and services. It should also be noted that for FTI customers, rebooking to other tour operators is not provided.

However, the fact that the bankruptcy was announced just a few days before the start of the summer holidays in Germany (on June 20 schools close in Saxony and Thuringia, followed by Bremen and Lower Saxony) is not only not considered a problem, but rather a positive development. And that’s because, as Spiegel Online estimates, most people haven’t even started their vacation, so they’re not going to be stranded in some faraway destination. In addition, many have not pre-paid the entire price of the “package”, but only an advance payment.

Debts to hoteliers

A Munich law firm with experience in similar cases was appointed bankruptcy administrator. The details of the case have not yet been released. However, the general principle of bankruptcy law is that a specific order of priority is followed until all creditors and those with a legal interest are satisfied. First in this series is the state.

There is a serious issue here, as the German State in the period of the pandemic had granted the FTI group financial assistance of 595 million euros, most of which has not yet been returned. “There are budgetary, legal and economic reasons why no further aid can be given,” Economy Ministry spokesman Stefan Haufe said in Berlin on Monday. Recently, however, German media talked about negotiations between the FTI of the German State and the European Commission with the aim of “cutting” the company’s debt.

Difficult days for workers

But what about the group’s 11,000 employees? According to Spiegel Online, the most likely scenario is that they receive their dismissal. For a transitional period of three months they will receive financial assistance from the state, but this arrangement only applies to workers within Germany.

In theory, of course, there is the possibility of FTI being acquired by DER Touristik, the second largest tour operator in Europe, which had previously expressed interest. Under the current circumstances, however, it is not excluded that a potential buyer will focus only on the most profitable parts of the FTI group, such as, for example, the travel service provider Meeting Point.

(dpa, HB, Spiegel Online, ARD)