LONDON – A massive airlift is underway to bring home holidaymakers caught out by the collapse of travel giant Thomas Cook.
The UK government and the country’s Civil Aviation Authority have chartered more than 40 planes to fly UK customers home free of charge in an emergency operation, codenamed Operation Matterhorn.
Yet, as the airplanes lift off on their repatriation missions, many in the industry are wondering how it all went so wrong for one of the world’s oldest travel companies.
HOW ITS PROBLEMS BEGAN
The financial crisis that has engulfed the company ahead of its collapse was blamed on political problems in destinations such as Tunisia and Turkey, travellers taking domestic holidays due to unseasonably warm weather in Northern Europe and unease around the UK’s ongoing Brexit saga.
In the recent past, the company was dogged by an expensive IT and digital project which failed to deliver as expected, and a failed attempt by a previous CEO to challenge Expedia in Europe and become the biggest online travel agency in the region.
The company also acquired other travel retailers, expanding its number of high street outlets at a time when people were increasingly going online to book their holidays.
The failure to raise the required capital to keep the business afloat threatens the jobs of the 22,000 staff Thomas Cook employs around the world, many of them working in travel agencies, including 9,000 in Britain. Around 550 high street travel agencies are predicted to close.
The BBC says the repatriation effort is the “largest peacetime repatriation effort” in British history.
Some 600,000 travellers are currently in-destination on trips provided by Thomas Cook’s range of tour operating brands or on flight-only deals on its airline.
Thomas Cook was offering packages to this weekend’s Singapore F1 Grand Prix but it is not known how many packages were sold and whether customers are stranded.
Thomas Cook's lenders, led by major UK banks, at the weekend pulled the plug on a deal to rescue the travel company – and save the holidays of some 150,000 UK customers stranded overseas, most of whom are covered by the UK’s travel industry protection scheme.
Founded in 1841, Thomas Cook operates as a wholesaler, as well as owning airlines, hotels and resorts across 16 countries.
Thomas Cook Airlines’ destinations included parts of mainland Europe, Africa, the US, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.
WHAT THEY SAY
The 178-year-old company, which is majority-owned by Chinese conglomerate Fosun, whose parent owns all-inclusive holiday firm Club Med, extended its “deepest sympathy to all those affected by this outcome”.
Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook's chief executive, said the firm's collapse was a "matter of profound regret". He apologised to the firm's "millions of customers, and thousands of employee, suppliers and partners who have supported us for many years”.
“This marks a deeply sad day for the company which pioneered package holidays and made travel possible for millions of people around the world,” the CEO added.
Additional reporting by Phocuswire.