UK to repatriate 16,700 Thomas Cook customers on Saturday

LONDON: A further 16,700 customers of collapsed British travel firm Thomas Cook are scheduled to be repatriated on Saturday on 76 flights, the country’s aviation regulator said.

The Civil Aviation Authority said it has so far brought back more than half of the total number of affected customers since it launched the country’s largest peacetime repatriation on Monday.

Read More:Travel firm collapses with 600,000 tourists stranded abroad

Earlier on September 23, British travel firm Thomas Cook had been collapsed into bankruptcy, leaving some 600,000 holidaymakers stranded and sparking the UK’s biggest repatriation since World War II.

The 178-year-old debt-plagued group, which had struggled against fierce online competition for some time and blamed Brexit uncertainty for a recent drop in bookings, failed to secure £200 million ($250 million, 227 million euros) from private investors and collapsed in the early hours, AFP reported.

Monday’s bankruptcy, which followed a lengthy period of chronic financial turmoil after a disastrous 2007 merger deal, left some 600,000 tourists stranded worldwide according to Thomas Cook, while its 22,000 staff are now out of a job.

Leave a Comment