The travel Company Thomas Cook has collapsed after last minute talks to organise a rescue deal failed overnight.

The failure leaves 22,000 jobs in jeopardy,9,000 in the UK of which 3,000 are in Greater Manchester and an estimated 150,000 tourists stranded abroad.

The emergency operation codenamed Operation Matterhorn will aim to bring home people currently on holiday with the firm.

In a statement the Civil Aviation Authority said:

“Thomas Cook Group, including the UK tour operator and airline, has ceased trading with immediate effect. All Thomas Cook bookings, including flights and holidays, have now been cancelled. There are currently more than 150,000 Thomas Cook customers abroad, almost twice the number that were repatriated following the failure of Monarch”

The Civil Aviation Authority has launched a special website, thomascook.caa.co.uk, where affected customers can find details and information on repatriation flights, as well as advice on accommodation for both ATOL and non-ATOL customers.

Customers abroad have been urged not to travel to the airport unless advised to say the authority.

Thomas Cook customers in the UK yet to travel should not go to the airport as all flights leaving the UK have been cancelled.

ATOL Protected passengers with future bookings are entitled to a full refund for their cancelled holiday. Passengers currently overseas may also make claims for the cost of replacing ATOL protected parts of their trip, or for out of pocket expenses as a result of delayed flights home.

Richard Moriarty, Chief Executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said:

“News of Thomas Cook’s collapse is deeply saddening for the company’s employees and customers, and we appreciate that more than 150,000 people currently abroad will be anxious about how they will now return to the UK.

“The government has asked us to support Thomas Cook customers on what is the UK’s largest ever peacetime repatriation.

“We have launched, at very short notice, what is effectively one of the UK’s largest airlines, involving a fleet of aircraft secured from around the world. The nature and scale of the operation means that unfortunately some disruption will be inevitable. We ask customers to bear with us as we work around the clock to bring them home.”

The tour operator’s financial difficulties have mounted over the past year, culminating in a refinancing plan in August led by its biggest shareholder, Chinese company Fosun.

However its bankers wanted the company to raise extra funds amounting to £200m to keep it afloat over the winter.

Boris Johnson says Thomas Cook requested £150m of public money but that bailing out would have set up “moral hazard” in case of other companies facing financial difficulties

“Thomas Cook’s financial problems are substantial, long-standing and well documented and government financial assistance would not have resolved them.” said the government in a statement just issued

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said:

“This will be a hugely worrying time for employees of Thomas Cook, as well as their customers. Government will do all it can to support them. I will be setting up a cross-government taskforce to monitor local impacts, will write to insurance companies to ask them to process claims quickly, and stand ready to provide assistance and advice.

I will also be writing to the Insolvency Service to ask them to prioritise and fast-track their investigation into the circumstances surrounding Thomas Cook going into liquidation.”

 

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