Thomas Cook Halts Operations, Stranding Passengers

LONDON — The tour operator and airline Thomas Cook said on Monday that it had collapsed, leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded and scrambling to find a way home, after last-minute negotiations to obtain necessary financing for the debt-ridden company fell apart.

“We are sorry to announce that Thomas Cook has ceased trading with immediate effect,” the company said in a post on Twitter, and the Civil Aviation Authority in Britain said that all Thomas Cook bookings, including flights and holidays, had been canceled.

The liquidation of the world’s oldest travel company has set in motion what was being described as the biggest peacetime repatriation in British history. More than 150,000 Britons were left to seek alternative transport. The BBC reported that the government had chartered 45 jets to get them home. Airlines including easyJet and Virgin were providing planes, the BBC said, with some being flown in from as far away as Malaysia.

“The Government and the Civil Aviation Authority are now working together to do everything we can to support passengers due to fly back to the U.K. with Thomas Cook between 23 September 2019 and 6 October 2019,” the Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement on its website.

The aviation authority told passengers who were booked on Thomas Cook Airlines flights to not go to British airports “as your flight will not be operating,” and warned that the repatriation effort would not include any outbound flights from Britain.

An estimated 600,000 people were believed to be stranded around the world, according to the BBC, and it was not clear what would happen to those who are not British.

The company was struggling with debts approaching 2 billion pounds, or nearly $2.5 billion, forcing it to enter negotiations with shareholders and creditors to obtain at least an additional £200 million that eventually failed. With no other choice, Thomas Cook ceased operations.

Before the collapse, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government would not intervene to save the airline, Sky News reported, saying that doing so would create a “moral hazard” because the possibility of a government bailout could encourage other companies to take risks.

Speaking to the British television network ITV, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said that beyond the fact that “governments don’t usually go around investing in travel companies,” a bailout of Thomas Cook would likely have only put off the inevitable by “stretching things out for a couple of weeks.”

“The company were asking for up to £250 million,” he said on “Good Morning Britain.” “They needed about £900 million on top of that and they’ve got debts of £1.7 billion, so they idea of just spending taxpayers’ money on that just wasn’t really a goer.”



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