The collapse of Kiss Flights on Tuesday did not come as complete shock to the Cooperative Travel Agency. It told the BBC it had raised concerns about the company’s business model soon after Kiss was set up. Speaking on the PM Programme on Radio 4, head of Cooperative Travel, Mike Greenacre, said he had voiced his concern about Kiss two year’s ago to the Civil Aviation Authority.

Kiss was set up by parent company Flight Options, which also ceased trading on Tuesday. Mr Greenacre said he told the CAA that Cooperative Travel was concerned that the flights Kiss was selling, mainly to Egypt, Turkey, Greece and the Canary Islands, were too cheap to be sustainable. He added that his company decided that it would not be selling any Kiss flights.

The CAA said in a statement that it had looked into Mr Greenacre’s concerns at the time, but because the travel industry is such a volatile business there are always rumours going around which it did its best to investigate. The CAA added that ATOL was set up to make sure the consumer was protected.

Kiss is the third major operator to collapse over the holiday season. Many customers of the now defunct Goldtrail rebooked with Kiss only to find that this summer held a double disappointment. Most customers’ have been assured that they will eventually get full refunds on holidays booked through both Goldtrail and Kiss, but for the time being many are out of pocket.

Transport analyst for Charles Stanley, Douglas McNeil, warned that some customers’ who have booked seats on charter planes may not actually realise they have bought the seats through a company which is no longer trading. He added that it might come as a shock to many when they find this out.