Aren’t they required to buy tickets with the revenue they get from customers and then get reimbursed a markup from the hotel or airline to make their profit? This should not have caused a stranding unless they were taking the money of clients and using it for payroll.
Most likely the travel agency reimburses the carrier at the end of the month, etc. In other words, the carrier extends credit to the agency. If the agency is not solvent then the carrier stops accepting passengers booked through that agency.
Sounds like how our government runs Social Security...
I bet they were doing exactly that, getting money from customers and using it to make payroll. And using money from new customers to pay the travel expenses for the 1st group of customers. Sounds like a pyramid scheme. Then it fell apart without new money coming in.
I believe it was their own planes. So if they weren’t going to buy fuel or pay the pilots to fly people home, or pay airport fees, etc. then people were stuck.