A row has broken out between the Civil Aviation Authority and Kroll, administrators of bankrupt tour company XL Leisure Tours, over a rescue plan to use XL's 19 aircraft to return 85,000 stranded holidaymakers to Britain.

Kroll, the corporate restructuring specialist, was appointed on Friday when XL filed for bankruptcy. Both Kroll and the CAA claim that using XL aircraft to return victims of the company's collapse was an option they had considered, but each has blamed the other for resorting to other measures.