Tens of thousand of furious British travelers were stranded Friday when the country's third-largest tour operator went bust under pressure from high fuel prices and a sagging economy.

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XL Leisure Group PLC went into administration overnight, saying it had been unable to secure more funding.

„All flights operated by the companies have been immediately canceled and the aircraft grounded,“ said a statement on the company's Web site.

XL Leisure's brands included XL Airways UK, Excel Aviation Ltd., Explorer House Ltd., Aspire Holidays Ltd., Freedom Flights Ltd., Freedom Flights (Aviation) Ltd., The Really Great Holiday Company PLC, Meddle Hotels Ltd., Travel City Flights Ltd., and Kosher Villa Holidays PLC.

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Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly said officials were working to arrange transportation home for travelers who are now abroad.

At Gatwick Airport, people expecting to go on holidays arrived to find that XL's aircraft were all grounded.

„We didn't find out about it until we got here. I'm pretty annoyed,“ said Graham White, 27, of London.

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At Manchester airport, Joe Kerwin of Liverpool said no one had explained the situation to him.

„I feel gutted and angry, but there's nobody to direct it at,“ said Kerwin, who had expected to fly to Greece.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) estimated there were 50,000 customers abroad who had booked through an XL tour operator, including 10,000 on holiday with XL Airways and 25,000 with other tour operators who shared the XL flights.

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Some 200,000 customers had advance bookings with the XL tour operators, the CAA said.

XL Leisure reported an operating loss of 24 million pounds (US$43 million) in the last financial year.

XL offered flights from seven U.K. airports to destinations in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and Florida.

Late last month, the company announced it would stop flying charters to Grenada, Tobago, St. Kitts, Antigua, Barbados and St. Lucia.

Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank of Iceland, which had loaned money to the company for several years, said it had agreed to acquire XL's subsidiaries in Germany and France.

Straumur-Burdaras said its exposure to XL amounted to Euro 45 million (US$63 million). „It is not clear at this stage to what extent this may be recovered,“ the company said in a statement on its Web site. The company and Britain's Barclays Bank reportedly had been involved in negotiations aimed at keeping XL afloat.