Published 14:46 IST, September 24th 2019
London repatriates 10 per cent of Thomas Cook's UK customers
Britain says it has repatriated 10% of British nationals who were left fending for themselves abroad after the collapse of tour company Thomas Cook authorities
After the dramatic bankruptcy of the global travel group, it has been reported that 10% of the people have been repatriated. They were left fending for themselves abroad after the collapse of tour company Thomas Cook authorities have revealed on September 24 as anger over excessive managerial level pay. The British Civil Aviation authority which is managing repatriation of a scale not experienced since World War II after Thomas Cook went bust revealed in a statement that it has flown back 14,700 of the 150,000 stuck British nationals on September 23. The Aviation authority later said that it hopes to bring back another batch of 16,500 people by today.
CAA: Unprecedented repatriation
The sudden collapse of Thomas Cook has left around 600,000 clients of several nationalities stranded across popular tourist destinations across the world including Cancun, Kos, Las Vegas, and Lanzarote. The CAA Chief executive Richard Moriarty in a statement said: Following the very sad news ... that Thomas Cook had stopped trading and its aircraft were grounded, we launched at the government's request our operation to return more than 150,000 people to the UK.
Moriarty further, reportedly, added: A repatriation of this scale and nature is unprecedented and unfortunately there will be some inconvenience and disruption for customers. "We will do everything we can to minimize this as the operation continues. "We want people to continue to enjoy their holiday, so we will bring them back to the UK on their original departure day, or very soon thereafter. Meanwhile, criticism is mounting over the pay of Thomas Cook's management, who steered the 178-year-old company into the rocks with vast debts. The Sun tabloid newspaper slammed Thomas Cook's "fat cat bosses", adding that the group's previous five chief executives had amassed a total of 47 million pounds (53 million euros/$58 million) in pay and bonuses since 2007.
The struggling company paid millions to a chief executive
Reportedly, The now-defunct company's Swiss division head Peter Fankhauser who expressed regret for Group going bust on September 23 has been paid a massive sum of 8.4 million pounds since the year 2014. In New York where the British Prime Minister is going for UN General Assembly has questioned as to whether a failing company's executives should receive huge salaries, the British Prime Minister said:
"He has questions for whether it is right that directors or whoever heads the board to pay themselves in large amounts when businesses go down like that. When posed a question about tougher and stricter rules PM Johnson said that there should be some system where tour operators insure themselves against this kind of event. "
As per reports, Thomas Cook had grappled with the fierce online competition for years and had blamed the uncertainty around Brexit for the recent slide in the number of bookings and reservations, declared insolvency after unable to secure 200 million pounds from private investors. September 23rd announcement about bankruptcy has been accompanied by long periods of deep financial troubles after a string of mergers affected the travel firm with rising debt, a huge network of branches and excess costs. The Civil Aviation Authority will continue repatriating UK passengers home till October 6.
Thomas Cook, which had struggled against the fierce online competition for years and blamed Brexit uncertainty for a recent drop in bookings, declared bankruptcy after failing to secure 200 million from private investors. Monday's bankruptcy followed a lengthy period of chronic financial turmoil after a disastrous series of mergers left it burdened with soaring debt, a large branch network and high costs. The CAA shall continue to fly UK passengers home until October 6, with those affected asked to check its official website.
Updated 17:10 IST, September 24th 2019