Thomas Cook travel chaos: firm's collapse leaves 150,000 stranded abroad - live updates

[brooklynite]

The Guardian

Britain’s biggest repatriation effort since the second world war is underway, following the collapse of Thomas Cook in the early hours of this morning.

Some 600,000 passengers are affected, with 150,000 UK citizens stranded abroad. The Civil Aviation Authority has organised a squadron of planes from other operators to bring people home -- but transport secretary Grant Shapps has warned the operation may not go smoothly.

Thomas Cook was both a Travel Agency (dating back to the 1840s), and a UK charter airline for British tourists.

[struggle4progress]

1. Dry run for Brexit

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 / 6:11 AM / UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO
Ed Cropley

... the government is now on the hook for getting holidaymakers home. Repatriating 80,000-odd Brits after the 2017 collapse of charter airline Monarch cost taxpayers 50 million pounds. Thomas Cook has stranded twice as many British customers and Boeing’s grounded 737 MAX has pushed up the cost of leasing aircraft. Insurance won’t let government recoup much of the projected 150 million pound expense.

Thomas Cook’s owners, including China’s Fosun Tourism, its largest shareholder, face total wipeout. Creditors won’t fare much better. The company only owned 16 of its 100-odd fleet of planes. Other assets include landing slots, nine Mediterranean hotels and the Thomas Cook brand, which is presumably worth less than a week ago. It is hard to see these covering much more than a quarter of claims estimated at between 1.5 billion pounds and 1.7 billion pounds.

The UK government’s repatriation bill is roughly the same size as the bailout request Johnson spurned. Refusing to rescue the company in favour of footing the cleanup bill allows the government to maintain the tough line it took with other recent cock-ups such as British Steel and Sirius Minerals. But if Johnson follows through on his threat to take Britain out of the European Union without a deal by the end of October, other corporate victims will come knocking ...

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-thomas-cook-grp-investment-breakingvi/breakingviews-thomas-cook-crash-is-dry-run-for-brexit-failures-idUKKBN1W80Y2

[unc70]

2. 150,000 Brits, 600,000 total

Various countries arranging charter flights back home.

[gratuitous]

3. Gosh, I hope nobody looks to Cook's executives to help make this right

Can you imagine how tough it would be on those captains of industry to be held financially responsible for the collapse of their company? Haven't they suffered enough?