Yesterday Zoom Airlines went bust. Well, both Zoom Airlines went bust. Zoom Airlines, Inc. was based in Canada, and Zoom Airlines Limited was based in the UK. The airline mainly oeprated no-frills transatlantic service, though I guess with United’s recent cuts it would have seemed, well, less “non-frill-y”?
It is never fun when an airline shuts down, and it’s always messy. But this shutdown seems worse than others. If this airliners.net thread is correct (hat tip to Rick for the link), one of Zoom’s 767s was repossessed mid-turn. Zoom’s website was also very slow to update. In my opinion, Zoom could have done a much better job during this situation from a customer-service standpoint. This is certainly a mess for consumers, but according to Zoom’s site, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will offer some special fares to stuck Zoom customers.
I hate it when airlines shut down quickly – it’s such a hassle. I wish more airlines would shut down like ExpressJet’s independent operation, which gave a hard date for the closure a few months in advance. I realize it’s a different situation because that airline will still fly for Continental, but I think you get my point.
Hopefully nothing like yesterday’s incident will occur over here in the United States soon. Luckily, most of the major airlines are publicly traded. In that case, travelers would at least have a better chance of getting advance warning of trouble ahead.
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