Profile: John Boyle, co-founder of Zoom airlines

Travellers left stranded by the collapse of the budget airline Zoom described today how they had been forced either to pay thousands of pounds for alternative flights, or cancel their dream holidays.

Zoom was set up by six years ago by the Scottish millionaires Hugh and John Boyle and had 600 staff in Canada and in the UK. It grounded all its flights last night as it prepared to go into administration, blaming its failure on the recent surge in oil prices.

The airline's collapse left 4,500 UK passengers already on holiday abroad high and dry, 650 of whom are scheduled to travel in the next 36 hours. A total of 2,000 Zoom customers had been due to fly from the UK in the next week.

The Civil Aviation Authority warned that only those passengers who had booked their flights as part of a package deal were guaranteed a flight home. Zoom said that 80 per cent of its customers either booked through an agent or used a credit card, which also affords some consumer protection.

Passengers returned to Glasgow airport this morning trying to salvage their holidays after spending the night in a nearby hotel. The only information available to them came in a customer announcement taped to the counter at the Zoom desk.

Aaron Steele, a 30-year-old IT worker from Ottawa, was trying to return home from his honeymoon in Scotland. He booked a flight from Edinburgh and said the couple had to get a taxi to the airport if they were to make it on time.

He said: "We’re travelling from Edinburgh to Ottawa via New York. It was around £1,000 for the flights plus we had to pay for a night in a hotel. We tried to get a flight until 11pm last night then realised we’d have to come back this morning. It has not been very well handled."

Isobel and Michael Shannon, from Dumfriesshire, said they would have to cancel their two-week holiday to Nova Scotia after failing to find affordable flights today. They have already paid for accommodation and car hire and do not know if they will be eligible for a refund. The couple have also paid for 15 days car parking at Glasgow Airport.

Mrs Shannon, 58, said: "The other airlines are quoting £2,500 and we just can’t do it. We’ll have to cancel our trip but the Canadians need to get home, they are just going to have to pay out."

Mr Shannon, 61, said: "We appreciate that airlines go bust but what I object to is that the authorities at the airport made no attempt to communicate with passengers. BAA would have known about this in good time and they didn’t let us know."

That complaint was echoed in Canada, where passengers were also kept in the dark. The Toronto Globe and Mail reported how Xander Forsyth, an Edinburgh native, was among 200 disgruntled Zoom passengers whose flight to London was held up for hours at Halifax, Nova Scotia, yesterday.

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