Britain to retrieve stranded travelers

London -- Britain's Civil Aviation Authority says it is undertaking its biggest effort in 20 years to rescue 85,000 passengers marooned by the collapse of XL Airways.

The effort will mean chartering dozens of aircraft and sending them everywhere from Turkey to Barbados at a cost of $36 million, The Times of London said Saturday.

British aviation officials said they were developing lists of stranded travelers and were booking aircraft from such XL competitors Thomsonfly, Thomas Cook, MyTravel and BA. They said the first rescue aircraft left London Friday morning and such flights would continue for two weeks.

Virgin Atlantic told the newspaper it would offer discounted flights home from passengers stranded in Florida.

"Our priority is to help passengers who are overseas over the next two to three weeks," an airline spokesman said. "We have already seen hundreds of people turning up to our ticket desks and ringing us."

Peter Long, chief executive of TUI Travel, said his company would help XL customers in Egypt and the Mediterranean.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.