UK steps in to aid passengers

THOMAS COOK: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS STRANDED AFTER COLLAPSE OF TRAVEL FIRM

Widespread criticism of pay received by ‘fat cat bosses’.

Britain has repatriated 10% of nationals who were stranded abroad after the collapse of travel firm Thomas Cook, authorities said yesterday, as anger erupted over excessive management pay.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulator, which is managing the UK’s biggest repatriation since World War II after Thomas Cook’s dramatic bankruptcy, said in a statement that it flew back 14 700 of the 150 000 stranded Britons on Monday.

The CAA added that it hoped to bring back another 16 500 people yesterday.

The dramatic collapse of Thomas Cook left 600 000 customers of all nationalities stranded in popular tourist destinations dotted around the globe, including Cancun, Kos, Las Vegas and Lanzarote.

“Following the very sad news ... that Thomas Cook had stopped trading and its aircraft were grounded, we launched at the government’s request our operation to return more than 150 000 people to the UK,” said CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty. “A repatriation of this scale and nature is unprecedented and unfortunately there will be some inconvenience and disruption for customers.

“We will do everything we can to minimise this

“We want people to continue to enjoy their holiday, so we will bring them back to the UK on their original departure day, or very soon thereafter.”

Meanwhile, criticism is mounting over the pay of Thomas Cook’s management, who steered the 178-year-old company into the rocks with vast debts.

We will do everything we can

The Sun tabloid newspaper slammed Thomas Cook’s “fat cat bosses”, adding that the group’s last five chief executives had “pocketed” a total of £47 million (about R863 million) in pay and bonuses since 2007.

The failed company’s Swiss chief executive Peter Fankhauser, who apologised for his group’s failure on Monday, has been paid £8.4 million since 2014.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has questioned whether failing management should receive huge salaries.

“Is it right that the directors, or whoever, the board, should pay themselves large sums when businesses can go down the tubes like that?” said Johnson. – AFP

Picture: Reuters HELPING OUT. British passengers board an Airbus A380 airliner that is being used for transporting Thomas Cook customers at Dalaman Airport in Turkey yesterday.