Thomas Cook Collapses After 178 Years Of Existence

Thomas Cook is a well-known tour operator among millions of UK holidaymakers and around the world. The firm has been in existence for 178 years but now, it is no more.

Thomas Cook has collapsed, getting more than 150,000 holidaymakers from Britain and who are already in various countries stranded and unable to get back home.

According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the “tour operator has ceased trading with immediate effect.”

There have been talks to help and salvage the fragile and ailing tour company but the talks yielded no fruits as it emerged that the holiday firm was dead and cannot be resurrected.

The company has more than 22,000 employees around the world including 9,000 in the UK alone. This means, as of this morning, all of them have no jobs.

The company has now been placed under “compulsory liquidation” with the management calling it a “matter of profound regret” and apologized to “millions of customers around the world and thousands of employees” who will be affected “directly.”

Already, more than 150,000 holidaymakers from the UK had used Thomas Cook and were hoping to return home. The company says all customers currently abroad with Thomas Cook who are booked to return to the UK over the next few weeks will be “brought home as close as possible” to their return date.

An emergency operation codenamed Operation Matterhorn, has been launched aimed at bringing the Britons home. On Sunday, an empty aircraft had already been dispatched overseas ready to take the tourists back on Monday.