"Thomas Cook has confirmed that all the companies in its group have ceased trading, including Thomas Cook Airlines," according to their official website.
By: Heather Newgen | Twitter: @hnvoluntourist
Thomas Cook, the 178-year-old British tour operator, abruptly closed its doors on Sunday, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
Peter Fankhauser, the CEO of Thomas Cook, said in a statement that the company’s demise was "a matter of profound regret."
"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,"he said.
The travel company, which employs 22,000 people worldwide, has been plagued with financial problems for years.
"The troubled operator hoped to seal a rescue led by China’s Fosun this week. But the creditor banks issued a last-minute demand that the travel company find an extra £200m,"the BBC reports.
Thomas Cook on repatriation flights
"Repatriation: The UK government and Civil Aviation Authority are working to bring all the stranded passengers back to the UK — even if they’re not UK citizens. However, these repatriation flights will only operate until October 6 — after then, travelers will need to book their own flights home.
Not all travelers protected: The repatriation flights are only available for travelers whose trips originated in the UK. Passengers in some locations will have to book their own flights home.
Holidays canceled: All Thomas Cook trips and flights have been canceled, and travelers who have not yet left for their holidays should not go to the airport. If your trip had ATOL (Air Travel Organiser’s Licence) protection, you can make a claim for a refund — otherwise, you can try to make a claim from your travel insurer, credit card insurer, or bank."
Click here to read more of the statement.
More Information for Thomas Cook Passengers
The UK authorities have stepped in to ensure travelers return home safely.
According to a recent statement, the "UK Civil Aviation Authority launches flying programme to bring home Thomas Cook customers. Thomas Cook has ceased trading so all Thomas Cook flights are now cancelled Customers in the UK yet to travel must not go to the airport UK Civil Aviation Authority to launch biggest ever peacetime repatriation Customers currently overseas should check thomascook.caa.co.uk for advice and only go to the airport once they have an alternative flight confirmed 24-hour helpline: 0300 303 2800 from the UK and Ireland and +44 1753 330 330 from overseas."
Furthermore the statement read "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. The Civil Aviation Authority will be launching a service to manage all refunds by Monday 30 September, once the flying operation has progressed. This refunds service will seek to process all refunds within 60 days of full information being received."
For more details click here.
"We’ve charted over 40 planes and we’re going to be running up to 1,000 flights in the next two weeks. It’s hugely challenging but we’ve given that commitment that we’re going to bring people home,"Tim Johnson, policy director at the UK Civil Aviation Authority told CNN. . The first repatriation plane will leave from New York’s JFK Airport back to Manchester Airport in England.
If you’re not flying back to the UK: The repatriation planes are only for about 160,000 passengers whose trips end in the UK — there are hundreds of thousands more who are stranded, with return flights going elsewhere.
“Each country has a slightly different approach to these situations,"said Johnson. "It will be for the authorities in those other countries, whether that’s Germany or Scandinavia, to make the arrangements for other passengers in those other countries."
What Went Wrong
Thomas Cook has faced massive competition from budget airlines and online travel agents. In addition, the company has blamed several reasons for its financial problems including "political unrest in holiday destinations such as Turkey, last summer’s prolonged heatwave and customers delaying booking holidays because of Brexit,"the BBC reports.
However Richard Branson believes the collapse of Thomas Cook is because of the drop in the British pound.
"It’s upsetting to see so many people lose their jobs and thousands of holidaymakers affected by disrupted travel," Branson wrote on Virgin’s site. "The drop in the pound following the referendum has put even more pressure on the struggling business, which has been saddled with large debt for a number of years. All of the travel industry costs are in dollars – for example fuel maintenance and airplane leasing. With the weaker pound, the cost of everything has skyrocketed. For Thomas Cook, this has proved terminal."He said the tour operator "was the pioneer of organized travel and has been such a strong force in the travel industry,"adding that Virgin Atlantic "are doing all they can to find people jobs and bring stranded people home."