 Final logo of the company, which was used from 2013 to 2019, before the closure | |
 A Thomas Cook store in the United Kingdom, which is now operated byHays Travel | |
| Thomas Cook Group | |
| Company type | Public |
| LSE: TCG FWB: TCG | |
| ISIN | GB00B1VYCH82 |
| Industry | Hospitality Tourism |
| Predecessors | |
| Founded | 5 July 1841; 184 years ago (1841-07-05) inLeicester, England asThomas Cook[1] |
| Founder | Thomas Cook |
| Defunct | 23 September 2019; 6 years ago (2019-09-23) |
| Fate | Ceased trading and entered intocompulsory liquidation[2] |
| Successors |
|
| Headquarters | London,England,United Kingdom |
Area served | Global |
Key people | Frank Meysman (Non-Executive Chairman) Peter Fankhauser (CEO) |
| Products | Charter and scheduled passenger airlines,package holidays,cruise lines, hotels and resorts |
| Services |
|
| Revenue |  £9,584 million (2018)[9] |
| £250 million (2018)[9] | |
 -£163 million (2018)[9] | |
Number of employees | 21,000 |
| Divisions | Thomas Cook Group Airlines |
| Subsidiaries |
|
Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on theLondon Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger ofThomas Cook AG — successor toThomas Cook & Son — andMyTravel Group[10] until 23 September 2019, when it went intocompulsory liquidation. The group operated as a tour operator and airline, and also operated travel agencies inEurope. At the time of the group's collapse, approximately 21,000 worldwide employees were left without jobs (including 9,000 UK staff) and 600,000 customers (150,000 from the UK) were left abroad, triggering the UK's largest peacetimerepatriation.[11][12]
After the collapse, segments of the company were purchased by others, including the travel stores in the UK, the airlines, the Thomas Cook name and logo, the hotel brands and the tour operators.Thomas Cook India has been an entirely separate entity since August 2012, when it was acquired byFairfax Financial and thus was not affected.[13] In September 2020,Fosun International launchedThomas Cook Holidays as the successor to the company, hiring some former Thomas Cook Group staff in the process.[14]
In February 2007, it was announced thatThomas Cook AG andMyTravel Group plc were to merge. The companies announced they expected to make savings of over £75 million a year, following the integration of the two businesses. Under the terms of the merger, the owners of Thomas Cook AG, KarstadtQuelle (laterArcandor), owned 52% of the new group. The shareholders of MyTravel Group owned the remaining 48% share.[15] The merger was completed in June 2007,[16] and took place through the formation of 'NewCo' which effectively purchased MyTravel and Thomas Cook and was then listed on the London Stock Exchange under the name of Thomas Cook Group plc.[17]
On 14 February 2008, Thomas Cook bought booking website Hotels4U.com for £21.8 million.[18] On 6 March 2008, the company bought back its licence to operate the Thomas Cook brand in the Middle East and Asia from theDubai Investment Group for an amount estimated to be around 249 million euros.[19] In April 2008 Thomas Cook bought the luxury travel firmElegant Resorts from its founders Geoff Moss and Barbara Catchpole for an undisclosed figure.[20] The company took overPreston-based Gold Medal International, owner ofNetFlights, in a deal worth £87 million in December 2008.[21]
On 8 March 2009, Thomas Cook signed a deal with Octopus Media Technology to host, upload, and provide an online video player for Thomas Cook TV.[22] In Spring 2009 Thomas Cook UK signed a deal with International Entertainment Supplier The E3 Group, to exclusively supply entertainment to the group.[23] In June 2009, Thomas Cook's majority shareholder Arcandor filed for bankruptcy, although the group was not affected.[24] Arcandor's shares in Thomas Cook were sold by its creditor banks in September 2009.[25]
In July 2010, Thomas Cook Group bought German tourism company Öger Tours, which was owned byVural Öger.[26]
In 2010, the Thomas Cook Group reached an agreement withThe Co-operative Group to merge its branch network with that ofThe Co-operative Travel. The merger was approved by theCompetition Commission in 2011, and the joint venture was 66.5% owned by the Thomas Cook Group, 30% owned by The Co-operative Group and 3.5% owned by theMidlands Co-operative (renamed theCentral England Co-operative in 2014).[27] The merger created the UK's largest travel network.[28] Thomas Cook'sGoing Places branded branches were rebranded under the Co-operative's brand.[29]
In May 2012,Harriet Green was appointed as the chief executive officer of Thomas Cook Group,[30] succeedingManny Fontenla-Novoa, who was CEO from 2003 until August 2011. On 1 July 2013, Thomas Cook announced that it would cease publishing theThomas Cook European Timetable, along with closure of the rest of its publishing business. The final edition of the timetable was published in August 2013,[31] but publication resumed in early 2014 under a new publishing company not affiliated with Thomas Cook.[32]
In February 2014 Thomas Cook Group sold Gold Medal Travel, including Netflights.com, todnata for a reported £45 million.[33] On 26 November 2014, it was announced that Green was leaving with immediate effect, and that COOPeter Fankhauser would take over as CEO.[34]
In October 2006, two young British children, Christianne and Robert Shepherd aged seven and six years old respectively, died fromcarbon monoxide poisoning caused by a faulty boiler while on a holiday inCorfu booked through Thomas Cook.[35] They were the first such deaths in the company's history.[36] Two Thomas Cook employees were subsequently amongst 11 defendants facing manslaughter by negligence charges at a criminal trial in Greece in 2010; both were acquitted and the company was cleared of any wrongdoing.[37]
In 2015, a UK inquest was held into the children's deaths; the jury returned a verdict ofunlawful killing and concluded that the travel group had "breached its duty of care".[38][39]
After the inquest,The Mail on Sunday published a news story saying that Thomas Cook had received £3 million from the owners of the hotel where the children's deaths had occurred.[40] In response, Thomas Cook made a charitable donation of £1.5m toUNICEF. However, the children's family said that they had not been consulted about this donation, which became the subject of criticism.[41] In UK newspaperThe Independent Joanna Bourke wrote: "Nothing Thomas Cook could ever do would bring back the two children killed by carbon monoxide poisoning on a Greek holiday in 2006. But the firm's handling of the case has been a lesson in how not to manage a crisis".[40]
In 2016 theCo-operative Group decided that it would exercise its option to quit the branch network joint venture. Thomas Cook Group announced it would buy out the stakes in The Co-operative Travel owned by The Co-operative Group and Central England Co-operative, taking full control of the retail network and re-branding the high street travel stores that had operated under the Co-operative brand gradually during 2017–18.[42][43]
In March 2017, Thomas Cook announced the sale of its Belgian airline operations toLufthansa. As a result,Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium was shut down by November 2017 with two aircraft and all traffic rights being handed toBrussels Airlines. Its three remaining aircraft were relocated to sister companies.[44][45]
In August 2018, a British couple, John and Susan Cooper, aged 69 and 63 respectively, died on a Thomas Cook holiday, while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic in the Red Sea resort ofHurghada. According to the Egyptian authorities, John died of a heart attack and Susan died of shock.[46] The couple's daughter, also present at the resort, blamed the faulty air conditioning system at the resort. Thomas Cook hurriedly evacuated around 300 holidaymakers staying in the same hotel after other guests started to fall ill.[47]
In November 2018, business analysts suggested that Thomas Cook should split the business to help recover its financial health.[48]
In February 2019, theFinancial Times newspaper said that the Thomas Cook Group had received bids for its airline business, which includedCondor, and also the company as a whole.[49] In March 2019, Thomas Cook UK announced 21 travel office closures and the redundancy of 300 staff, justifying the decision with the fact that 64% of bookings had been made online in 2018.[50]
In May 2019, the company reported that it had secured £300 million of emergency funding from its banks.[51] Then in May 2019, the company announced a loss of £1.5 billion for the first half of its financial year, with £1.1 billion of the loss being attributable to goodwill write-downs.[52] In June 2019, Thomas Cook said that it was in talks with the Chinese companyFosun International with regard to the possible sale of its tour operator business.[53] On 28 August 2019, Thomas Cook announced that Fosun would pay £450 million for 75% of the firm's tour business and 25% of its airline.[54]
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By September 2019, Thomas Cook Group was "the mostshorted company on the London Stock Exchange",[55] and reports began to emerge that the company was "in last minute negotiations" with bondholders, in order to approve the Fosun takeover.[56] Less than a week later, Thomas Cook askedHM Government to fund a £200 million gap in the company's finances to prevent the firm falling intoadministration.[57] The company had by that point secured £900m in funding as part of adebt-for-equity swap, including £450m from Fosun.[58]
Despite this, a late demand is reported to have emerged from the Group's funders, includingRoyal Bank of Scotland andHalifax,[58] who insisted that the Group be sufficiently recapitalised to ensure operations were protected through to January, when bookings are traditionally quieter and liquidity would be challenging.[58][59] This demand meant the group needed an extra £200 million of funding to keep the company operational.[58] These efforts did not succeed, with the UK GovernmentSecretary of State for TransportGrant Shapps rejecting any discussion of UK intervention.[60] Media reports had earlier indicated that a group, including the Turkish government and a group of Spanish hoteliers backed by Spanish ministers, had offered financial support in order to assist their domestic industries, but that rescue had failed because "the British government said it was not prepared to provide any financial guarantees to underpin the funding package."[61]
A final failed attempt to prevent the Thomas Cook Group from administration or liquidation took place the evening of 22 September 2019. At around midnight on 23 September, airports in the UK began to impound Thomas Cook aircraft upon arrival, citing "default in payment of airport charges".[62][63] Shortly after 02:00BST, theCivil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that the Thomas Cook Group had entered liquidation and ceased operations with immediate effect, leaving around 600,000 tourists overseas.[64][65] The collapse of the company marked the end of a brand name that had been in continuous use since 1841.[66]
The collapse triggered an operation initiated by the CAA, aiming to repatriate 150,000 British citizens from abroad. The operation was codenamed 'Operation Matterhorn' and overtook the2017 collapse of Monarch Airlines as the UK's biggest peacetime repatriation. Around 40 aircraft from various airlines, includingeasyJet andVirgin Atlantic, as well as at least oneAirbus A380 fromMalaysia Airlines, were chartered.[67] Insurance companies took care of customers from Germany, one of the former company's biggest markets.[68]
David McHugh ofCTV News reported that there were many factors that led to the collapse: a high debt load of £1.6 billion ($2 billion) combined with a changing travel market and online competition, events such as terrorist attacks in tourist destinationsincluding Tunisia, theEuropean heat wave in 2018, uncertainty caused byBrexit, and high fuel costs.[69]
On 9 October 2019, independent travel agentHays Travel announced that it had acquired all 555 former Thomas Cook travel stores in the UK, and planned to re-employ a "significant number" of former employees.[3] Hays, which already operated 190 of their own stores, expected to retain over 25% of the retail staff, saving roughly 2,500 jobs.[70][71]
Meanwhile, on 30 October 2019, an investment consortium consisting of Norwegian property tycoonPetter Stordalen and private equity firmsAltor andTDR Capital announced that they had acquired the assets of Thomas Cook Northern Europe (also known as the Ving Group) including the Ving, Spies and Tjäreborg travel agencies, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, and the Sunwing and Sunprime hotel brands, with Stordalen and Altor owning 40% each and TDR Capital owning the remaining 20%. Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia was then rebranded asSunclass Airlines.[4][5][72] There were reports on 31 October 2019 that Swiss-based investment firm LMEY Investments intended to re-acquire the Aldiana hotel brand, which it jointly owned with Thomas Cook, by buying Thomas Cook's 42% minority shareholding.[73][74]
Fosun International purchased the Thomas Cook name and logo, along with the Casa Cook and Cook's Club hotel brands, for £11 million on 1 November 2019.[6][7] Then, on 8 November 2019, it was announced that Thomas Cook's airport slots had been sold toeasyJet andJet2holidays for £36 million, with the former acquiring Gatwick and Bristol and the latter acquiring Birmingham, London Stansted and Manchester.[75] Thomas Cook Germany announced that it would close down on 1 December 2019, after having failed to find a buyer, with administrators in talks to sell Thomas Cook Germany's tour operators Öger Tours, Bucher Reisen, Neckermann and Air Marin and find buyers for hotel brands Sentido and Smartline.[76]
Neşet Koçkar, the chairman of Turkish tour operator Anex Tours, acquired Russian tour operatorIntourist from Thomas Cook's liquidators on 15 November 2019.[77] Meanwhile, Anex Tours acquired Thomas Cook Germany's tour operators Öger Tours and Bucher Reisen, saving 84 jobs, on 21 November 2019.[78][79] Anex Tours also acquired the trademark rights for tour operator Neckermann Reisen from Thomas Cook Germany's liquidators on 2 January 2020.[80]
The German travel group DER Touristik acquired the Sentido hotel brand, with the deal subject to antitrust approval, on 4 December 2019.[81][82] Thomas Cook Balearics had closed down after becoming insolvent on 26 December 2019.[83]
On 24 January 2020, it was announced that Polish carrierLOT Polish Airlines had acquired German airline Condor, with the acquisition expected to be completed by April 2020 once antitrust approval had been secured.[84] However, on 13 April 2020, it was announced that LOT Polish Airlines had withdrawn its offer to acquire German airline Condor,[85] with the German government agreeing to support Condor with emergency liquidity.[86] The German airline Thomas Cook Aviation filed for bankruptcy due to theCOVID-19 pandemic on 2 April 2020.[87]
On 16 September 2020,Fosun International relaunched Thomas Cook asThomas Cook Holidays, an online travel company with 50 employees.[88]
Below are the financial records of the Thomas Cook Group plc between 2008 and 2018 and the combination ofThomas Cook AG andMyTravel Group in 2007.
| Year | Revenue | Net Income | CEO | Chairman |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007[89] | €9.4 billion | €284 million | Manny Fontenla-Novoa | Thomas Middelhoff |
| 2008[90] | £8.1 billion | £49.5 million | ||
| 2009[91] | £9.2 billion | £56.1 million | Michael Beckett | |
| 2010[92] | £8.8 billion | £41.7 million | ||
| 2011[93] | £9.8 billion | −(£398.2) million | Frank Meysman | |
| 2012[94] | £9.4 billion | −(£485.3) million | Manny Fontenla-Novoa Sam Weihagen (Interim) | |
| 2013[95] | £9.3 billion | −(£158.1) million | Harriet Green | |
| 2014[96] | £8.5 billion | −(£114) million | Harriet Green | |
| 2015[97] | £7.8 billion | £50 million | Peter Fankhauser | |
| 2016[98] | £7.8 billion | £42 million | ||
| 2017[99] | £9 billion | £46 million | ||
| 2018[100] | £9.5 billion | −(£53) million |
At the time of the 2007 merger, 52% of the shares in the new company were held by the German mail-order and department store companyArcandor (the former owner of Thomas Cook AG) and 48% owned by the shareholders of MyTravel Group. Arcandor filed for bankruptcy in June 2009,[24] and its shares in Thomas Cook were sold in September 2009.[25]
As of June 2016, Thomas Cook Group plc's three major shareholders wereInvesco (19%),Standard Life Investments (10%), and the business magnate and investorGuo Guangchang (7.03%). The remainder of the stock floated freely.[101]
Thomas Cook Group employed approximately 21,000 staff worldwide, with 9,000 in theUnited Kingdom.[102]
Thomas Cook Retail Limited was the UK travel agent, and successor toThomas Cook & Son stores.[103] It was a subsidiary of the Thomas Cook Group, who operated a total of 555 travel stores all over the United Kingdom. The agents primarily sold package holidays under the in-house British tour operator Thomas Cook Tour Operations, and flight-only bookings withThomas Cook Airlines. On 23 September 2019, the business enteredcompulsory liquidation, like all other UK entities in the group.[64]
| Tour operator | Country | Logo | Group Tenure | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Cook Tour Operations | United Kingdom | Sunny Heart | 2001–2019 | Compulsory liquidation; closed down on 23 September 2019.[104][105] |
| Thomas Cook Germany | Germany | Sunny Heart | 2001–2019 | Compulsory liquidation; closed down on 1 December 2019.[76][106] |
| Thomas Cook France | France | Sunny Heart | 2001–2019 | Compulsory liquidation.[107] |
| Thomas Cook Netherlands | Netherlands | Sunny Heart | 2001–2019 | Compulsory liquidation.[108] |
| Thomas Cook Belgium | Belgium | Sunny Heart | 2001–2019 | Compulsory liquidation.[108] |
| Thomas Cook China | China | Sunny Heart | 2016–2019 | Majority owned byFosun Tourism.[109] |
| Thomas Cook India | India | Globe | 1881–2012 | Sold toFairfax Financial.[13][110] |
| Airtours | United Kingdom | Independent logo | 2007–2019 (former MyTravel Group subsidiary) | Compulsory liquidation; closed down on 23 September 2019.[note 1] |
| Ving | Norway Sweden | Sunny Heart | 2007–2019 (former MyTravel Group subsidiary) | Acquired by an investment consortium.[4] |
| Tjäreborg | Finland | Sunny Heart | 2007–2019 (former MyTravel Group subsidiary) | Acquired by an investment consortium.[4] |
| Spies | Denmark | Sunny Heart | 2007–2019 (former MyTravel Group subsidiary) | Acquired by an investment consortium.[4] |
| Neckermann | Poland Hungary Czech Republic | Sunny Heart | 2001–2019 for Poland and Hungary 2007–2019 for Czech Republic | Compulsory liquidation.[111] |
| Neckermann Reisen | Austria Switzerland | Sunny Heart | 2001–2019 | Compulsory liquidation; acquired by Anex Tours.[112] |
| Intourist | Russia | Independent and Sunny Heart | 2011–2019 | Acquired by Anex Tours.[77] |
| Sunquest Vacations | Canada | Independent | 1995–2013 | Sold toTransat A.T.[113] |
| Öger Tours | Germany | Independent | 2010–2019 | Acquired by Anex Tours.[78][79] |
Thomas Cook In Destination Management Limited[114] was an overseas management company, operating on behalf of its British sister tour operator and airline. The business was in charge of managing bus transfers to hotels and providing hotel 'reps' for Thomas Cook customers.[115] It ceased operations on 23 September 2019 after Thomas Cook Group and its UK entities enteredcompulsory liquidation.[64]
Thomas Cook Hotels and Resorts Limited was the Thomas Cook Group's wholly owned hotel business. The majority of hotels were located inEurope, primarily in countries within theEuropean Union.[116][117] Brands included Casa Cook, Sentido, Sunprime, Cook's Club, Aldiana, Sunwing, SunConnect, and Smartline.[116][117][118]
The Thomas Cook Group's airline division operated as one operating segment, theThomas Cook Group Airlines (TCGA).[119]
| Airline | Country | Image | Joined | Description | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Cook Airlines UK |  United Kingdom | .jpg) | 2003–2019 | Thomas Cook Airlines was established in 2003 after being renamed from the formerJMC Air. As of 2016, the airline operated an 'all Airbus fleet' operating the Airbus A321 and Airbus A330. | Compulsory liquidation; closed down on 23 September 2019.[104] |
| Condor |  Germany | (WL)%2c_D-ABUA_-_FRA_(18616170894).jpg) | 2001–present | Condor Flugdienst is a German carrier established in 1956 and previously a fully owned subsidiary ofLufthansa. It operates a mixed fleet of Boeing and Airbus aircraft. | Continues to operate; planned acquisition byLOT Polish Airlines[84][120] withdrawn on 13 April 2020;[85] now owned by British investment firm Attestor Capital.[121] |
| Thomas Cook Aviation | Germany | _%40_TFS%2c_Jan_2019.jpg) | 2017–2020 | In January 2017Air Berlin Aviation GmbH received the approval for the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) after being acquired by Thomas Cook Group. The airline operated six Airbus A320 aircraft out of Düsseldorf and Leipzig. The company was renamed to Thomas Cook Aviation in November 2018. | Aircraft transferred toCondor in December 2019; filed for bankruptcy on 2 April 2020.[87] |
| Thomas Cook Airlines Balearics |  Spain | .jpg) | 2017–2019 | Thomas Cook Airlines Balearics was established in 2017 after the acquisition ofThomas Cook Airlines Belgium byLufthansa. The airline operated 6 Airbus A320-200 aircraft and operated in theUnited Kingdom andGermany. | All aircraft transferred to Condor; it was declared insolvent on 26 December 2019, though it still operated some flights on behalf of Condor until it finally ceased all operations in January 2021.[83] |
| Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia |  Norway Denmark Sweden Finland | _%40_MAN%2c_May_2017_(02).jpg) | 2007–2019 | Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia was a Scandinavian airline that operated flights from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland to worldwide destinations. The airline operated the Airbus A321-200, Airbus A330-200 and Airbus A330-300. | Acquired by an investment consortium and rebranded asSunclass Airlines on 30 October 2019.[4] |
| Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium |  Belgium | .jpg) | 2002–2017 | Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium was aBelgian leisureairline owned by the Thomas Cook Group. It operated scheduled flights to destinations throughout Europe and Africa from its base atBrussels Airport. | Ceased operations when it was sold toLufthansa AG in 2017.[122] |
| Thomas Cook Airlines Canada |  Canada |  | 2010–2013 | Thomas Cook Airlines Canada was a Canadian charter division of the Thomas Cook Group based inMontreal, Quebec,Canada. It served destinations to theCaribbean,Mexico and toNorth America. | Ceased operations when Thomas Cook Group sold Sunquest Vacations to Red Label Vacations in March 2013.[123] |
Thomas Cook was a main sponsor ofManchester City andPeterborough United football clubs. On 22 May 2009, Manchester City announced that its six-year partnership with Thomas Cook would conclude at the end of the2008–09 Premier League season.[124] Thomas Cook was a sponsor of theLondon 2012 Summer Olympics. As one of the UK's biggest and most popular providers of package holidays, Thomas Cook was appointed to provide "affordable and accessible" holidays and accommodation throughout the games.[125]
He said: 'The acquisition of the Thomas Cook brand will enable the group to expand its tourism business building on the extensive brand awareness of Thomas Cook and the robust growth momentum of Chinese outbound tourism.'
We will build on the good things Thomas Cook had — not least its people — and that will put us in even better stead for the future.
