Published on : Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Today, Thomas Cook, the British travel giant was declared bankruptcy after failing to reach a last-ditch rescue deal. The collapse prompts the biggest repatriation of UK since World War II to bring back stranded passengers.
The 178 year old operator had been badly looking for a 200 million pound (US$250 million, 227 million euros) bailout from private investors to save it from collapse.
“Despite considerable efforts, those discussions have not resulted in agreement between the company’s stakeholders and proposed new money providers.”
“The company’s board has therefore concluded that it had no choice but to take steps to enter into compulsory liquidation with immediate effect.”
In an operation starting today, the government explains that it has by now hired planes to fly home an estimated 150,000 vacationers to the UK.
There are also “probably a few thousand” holidaymakers in Thailand, as local operators evaluate the challenge of getting British holiday-makers in Thailand back to the UK. A Thai-based hotelier informed The Thaiger this morning that the fall down will be disastrous for the holiday market of the UK and will effect Thai bookings from the British, especially over the forthcoming Christmas and New Year season.
Following Thomas Cook’s crumple and the cancellation of all its flights, the UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has declared that the government and UK Civil Aviation Authority taken about a dozen of charter planes to fly customers home free of charge, a separate statement said, describing it as the largest repatriation in peacetime history.
“All customers currently abroad with Thomas Cook who are booked to return to the UK over the next two weeks will be brought home as close as possible to their booked return date.”
Thomas Cook chief executive Peter Fankhauser called it a “deeply sad day”.
“It is a matter of profound regret to me and the rest of the board that we were not successful,” he said.
“There are many hotels with long-term contracts with Thomas Cook, but those bookings will now fall through. It’s not good for tourism in Thailand that has been so popular for British tourists for twenty years.”
Tags: Thomas Cook
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