Thousands more Britons had holiday plans thrown into confusion last night as another tour operator went bust and the future of Italy’s flag-carrier airline hung in the balance.

As more of the 85,000 British tourists stranded abroad by the collapse of XL on Friday arrived home, it emerged that 150 tourists on holiday in Turkey with K&S Holidays will have to rely on the Civil Aviation Authority to fly them home after the company collapsed. Another 460 people who had future travel plans with the North London-based operator, which also traded as Travel Turkey and flew mostly with Onur Air, have had their holidays cancelled.

Fifty K&S customers had checked in for a flight to Dalaman at Manchester yesterday before they were told that their trips had been cancelled.

Meanwhile, Alitalia, the Italian airline, played down reports that its flights today would be grounded because it could no longer afford fuel. As emergency talks got under way, a spokeswoman said last night that all flights were still listed as operational. “Don’t worry,” she said, “We won’t be seeing thousands of sunburnt Brits in shorts camping in the airports.”

It also emerged that the former auditor of XL, which was Britain’s third-largest tour operator before it went into administration on Friday, gave warning of “financial irregularities” almost two years ago. In a letter filed at Companies House and dated October 16, 2006, KPMG said that it had resigned as XL’s auditor and went on: “We are no longer able to conclude that the financial statements give a true and fair view of the profit of the company and its subsidiaries.”

As questions circulated yesterday about why the company collapsed, XL customers still stranded overseas complained about their treatment. A dispute broke out between the Greek and British authorities over responsibility for a group of Britons who have been stuck at Corfu airport since Friday.

A Foreign Office spokesman said that the British consulate had been liaising with the Greek authorities and was told on Saturday that “all British tourists at the airport have been provided with alternative accommodation, had found alternative flights home or were being cared for by their travel agents”. But Norman Bennett, a stranded passenger, said: “We haven’t had any answers, and the authorities here, they just shout and never come up with a positive answer.”

It is understood that nine aircraft have been chartered to fly Britons back from the Greek island today.

In St Lucia, a British couple were presented with a £1,000 bill from their hotel, despite having paid for an XL package. Martin Skillings, holidaying with his wife, said that 34 other people had been presented with similar bills: “Most have done what I’ve done and refused to pay,” he told the BBC.

Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, stepped in to fly passengers home from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt and the Greek island of Kos. Mr Dickinson, a qualified pilot, said: “I think they were relieved they were going home and finally that something definite was happening.”

The CAA said that it had so far arranged 94 repatriation flights to rescue XL passengers, which have carried — or will carry — 22,090 customers of the failed company. Richard Jackson, from the CAA, said that the authority would attempt to mirror the XL flight timetable as closely as possible.

On the Professional Pilots Rumour Network website there was concern about the job losses. “When are the media going to highlight the lost jobs and ruined futures of the thousands of aviation industry staff and give us a break from the so very boring stories of stranded passengers?”, “BladePilot” wrote. “They will get home, their homes (and possibly jobs) will still be there. They’ll get over it, but the suffering for the staff who are losing their livelihoods won’t let up overnight.”

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