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Some 60,000 passengers will soon be on the lookout for transatlantic flights following the collapse of the low-cost carrier Zoom Airlines.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revealed that some 4,500 UK passengers are stranded abroad as a result of the airline going bust and approximately 60,000 have forward bookings that are now void.

As well as causing problems for thousands of travellers, the affair shows the importance of making bookings with companies covered by the CAA's Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol) programme.

Atol is a financial protection scheme that prevents customers from losing money or being stranded abroad if a tour operator goes out of business. It does not cover bookings made directly with airlines such as Zoom.

The CAA advised people who were due to fly back to the UK with Zoom to make arrangements with other airlines.

Zoom operated from airports including Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow to New York, San Diego, Fort Lauderdale and destinations in Canada. It blamed its collapse on soaring fuel costs and tough economic conditions.

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