Hollard Travel Insurance has removed its supplier insolvency cover benefit due to the impact of COVID-19 on the industry.
Uriah Jansen, md of Oojah Travel Protection, which administrates Hollard Travel Insurance, told Travel News that the insurer was no longer offering this benefit for new policies.
“It is a known fact that airlines around the world are in positions of financial difficulty due to the impact of COVID-19 on aviation, and we have seen travel insurers around the world taking huge knocks from the effects of COVID this year. We have to make sensible decisions about our appetite for risk and the sustainability of our policies at this time,” said Uriah, adding that the insurer could always reassess the situation in the future when the industry was in a more stable position.
She said it was important that clients were advised of the personal level of risk involved in booking airline tickets at present, as it was standard policy in the industry not to provide cover for airlines that were under administration or business rescue processes. She said airlines globally were moving into administration on a daily basis and that it had become difficult for Hollard to track this during lockdown, which had contributed to the insurer’s decision to remove the benefit entirely at this time.
“Hollard Travel Insurance still offers a ‘cancellation for any reason’ benefit. This means that if you purchased your policy within 24 hours of paying your travel booking deposit, cancellation cover would still apply to your land arrangements if an airline that you were booked on was unable to deliver its service,” said Uriah.
TIC is still offering a supplier insolvency cover benefit but this cover does not apply to airlines that are under administration or in business rescue. Travel News was unable to reach Bryte Insurance for comment about its cover at the time of publication.