Hundreds of England fans stranded as airline collapses

A budget airline has gone under, throwing into jeopardy the plans of hundreds of England's fans to travel to the first Test in South Africa.

More than 300 supporters could miss the first Test in Port Elizabeth which starts on December 17 after Civair Airways, a South Africa based company, cancelled all of its flights and postponed the launch of its budget airline indefinitely.

No alternative arrangements have been offered, leaving the supporters to make their own plans. Tickets for another airline could cost £700, but with it being Christmas, they might not even be able to get on another flight. Civair will offer refunds, but customers will lose out on the exchange rate, and they will also have to pay an administration fee.

Civair had offered flights to Cape Town and Durban from London's Stansted for as little as £200, but it is rumoured that the company was unable to complete the purchase of a Boeing 747-200 due to financing difficulties.

"We knew that they were advertising fares. We were concerned, but we have no jurisdiction over what a company puts on its website," a spokesperson for Stansted told the Sunday Times in London. "It was fairly confident of launching in December, but there was no official sign-up, so we didn't show the flights on our online schedule."

A statement from Civair said: "We have the paperwork to prove we were fully licensed, but a financier backed out at the last minute. We are returning all the money we hold, but cannot return fees we have paid to credit cards or losses on exchange rates."

Katy Cooke, secretary of the Barmy Army, told the London-based Evening Standard newspaper: "We recommended Civair to a lot of people." Civair chief executive Andy Cluver has apologised to customers.