ABTA bonding under threat

There are more calls for scrapping of the ABTA fund for bailing out stranded passengers such as in the XL failure, and replacing the bond with individual travel insurances. As ever, BA opposed the idea claiming that it meant that it's clients would effectively be subsidising less financially stable companies. This has been countered with the idea that established operators culd charge a lower levy that newer companies.
At the end of the day, the money for repatriating stranded holiday makers has to be met by some mechanism, and it is always going to be some form of 'tax' on the traveller. Individual insurance is as good a way as any in theory, but the idea of a central fund means that there is one body taking responsibility for repatriation rather then twenty different insurance companies. The management of the fund is under question with it currently being in the red, this is a state that cannot continue and there is no doubt that travellers should be the ones to foot the bill in the end.