Group is insolvent

FTI cancels all trips in the next four weeks

The German travel giant FTI is insolvent. 11,000 jobs are in jeopardy, tens of thousands of travelers are affected - also in Austria. Here, the group has a branch in Linz and is represented by around 70 employees.(Bild: fti-group.com/de)

The insolvent travel group FTI has canceled package tours up to and including July 5. The trips would be associated with too many uncertainties for vacationers, explained insolvency administrator Axel Bierbach on Friday. 

In the meantime, negotiations are continuing with other tour operators to take over the upcoming trips.

Competitors such as TUI, Dertour or Alltours are offering bookings, some of them with flexible cancellation rules, in order to win over FTI customers.

Gap likely to close quickly
Some of them are already in the process of negotiating contracts with hoteliers to stand in for FTI. The gap that the bankruptcy of Germany's third-largest tourism group has created in the product range is likely to close quickly, according to estimates from the industry.

Guarantee fund accommodates customers
Meanwhile in Switzerland, the guarantee fund of the Swiss travel industry is accommodating FTI customers. It is voluntarily accepting payments from end customers to the Swiss FTI subsidiary FTI Touristik AG, even though it is not yet bankrupt.

The Board of Trustees of the Guarantee Fund has decided on this special arrangement to bridge the period between the bankruptcy of FTI Touristik GmbH in Germany on June 3, 2024 and any bankruptcy of FTI Touristik AG in Switzerland, as the fund announced on Friday. Its aim is to support customers in "these difficult, challenging and confusing times".