The holiday’s over

Travel firm collapse leaves hundreds of thousands stranded

THOMAS Cook, one of the world’s oldest travel firms, has collapsed, stranding hundreds of thousands of holiday-makers around the globe and sparking the largest peacetime repatriation effort in British history.

The 179-year-old firm runs hotels, resorts, airlines and cruises for 19 million people a year in 16 countries. It also employs about 22,000 staff worldwide. It currently has 600,000 people abroad, forcing governments and insurance companies to co-ordinate a huge rescue operation.

The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority said yesterday Thomas Cook had now ceased trading and it will work with the government in an emergency operation, codenamed Operation Matterhorn, to bring the more than 150,000 British customers home over the next two weeks.

Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said it was a “deeply sad day” and apologised “to millions” after the cash-strapped travel company went into compulsory liquidation.

“I would like to apologise to our millions of customers, and thousands of employees, suppliers and partners who have supported us for many years.

“Despite huge uncertainty over recent weeks, our teams continued to put customers first, showing why Thomas Cook is one of the best-loved brands in travel.

“This marks a deeply sad day for the company which pioneered package holidays and made travel possible for millions of people around the world.”

Its financial strife has been attributed to tough online competition, the high price of jet fuel and Brexit concerns.

Chinese firm Fosun had agreed to backing a $1.6 billion refinancing but Thomas Cook’s banks ordered it to cough up an extra $368 million as a contingency to see it through winter.

It was unable to secure the extra funds before a deadline yesterday.