The bankruptcy of FTI, the owner of Labranda and Meeting Point, is heading towards the precipice. This tour operator represented 15 percent of the German market on the islands, has investments in 30 hotels in the Canary Islands, had a movement of 2020 tourists to the archipelago in 500.000 and had an economic impact of around 2023 million euros on the islands in 800. So far, 69.000 creditors of FTI have filed claims. Despite successful sales, bankruptcy administrator Axel Bierbach warns of a low repayment rate at the creditors' meeting. 100 FTI employees are still involved in the liquidation of the insolvent tour operator, which until its bankruptcy last summer had at least 33 percent of the market in the southern Gran Canaria in the German-speaking area. The first creditors' meeting of the insolvent tour operators FTI Touristik and Big Xtra Touristik did not arouse much interest from financial investors. The liquidation of the group is progressing at a good pace, said Bierbach. Several subsidiaries and a four-star hotel on the Greek island of Kos were sold. Of the 1.000 FTI employees in Germany, 100 were still involved in the process.
The examination of debt claims would take years due to the large number of creditors and there will probably only be a small share that can be recovered. Europe's third largest travel group, FTI, filed for bankruptcy in June after customers and travel agencies became increasingly cautious about booking, contractual partners insisted on advance payment and the company ran out of money. Around 290.000 creditors were customers of FTI Touristik GmbH.
Package travellers are getting their advance payments back from the German Travel Insurance Fund (DRSF). The DRSF has already written to 180.000 eligible persons, received 125.000 applications and paid out around 50 million euros. Austrian travellers were also affected by the bankruptcy; they are also insured through the German Travel Insurance Fund. FTI and its Austrian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy in June. Hotels, travel agencies, airlines, banks and the German Economic Stabilisation Fund (FSM), which lent money to FTI during the Covid-19 pandemic as did SEPI with its subsidiary Meeting Point. According to Bierbach, 565 creditors have submitted claims by mail for a total amount of more than 564 million euros. Another 69.000 creditors registered claims electronically for a total amount of 276 million euros.
