Revealed: Gatwick airport to lose 600,000 passengers because of Thomas Cook collapse November 26, 2019 Gatwick airport is set to lose more than half-a-million passengers this financial year because of the collapse of Thomas Cook. The UK’s second-biggest airport held a significant number of the airline’s take-off and landing slots before it folded in September and sparked the repatriation of 150,000 Brits who were left stranded abroad. Read more: General [...]
Jet2 buys Thomas Cook’s slots at Stansted, Manchester and Birmingham airports November 8, 2019 Budget airline Jet2 has snapped up Thomas Cook’s airport slots at Stansted, Manchester and Birmingham, the collapsed travel company’s liquidators confirmed today. The official receivers did not reveal how much Jet2 paid for the landing and take off slots, which came hours after Easyjet bought Thomas Cook’s slots at Gatwick and Bristol. Read more: MPs [...]
Thomas Cook collapse: MPs slam government inaction and lack of audit reform November 4, 2019 Business secretary Andrea Leadsom has come under fire from MPs for “the extraordinary lack of interest” she showed in Thomas Cook in the run-up to its collapse, amid growing calls for wide-ranging regulatory reform. In a scathing conclusion to the business select committee’s (BEIS) review into the travel giant’s liquidation, MPs expressed their frustration that [...]
Thomas Cook lives on in name only as Fosun pays £11m for brand November 1, 2019 The Thomas Cook brand will live on, it was confirmed today, as Hong Kong-listed Fosun Tourism Group announced they had bought the brand for £11m. The move, which was widely expected, will see Fosun also acquire subsidiary brands such as boutique hotel chain Casa Cook and beach hotel concept Cook’s Club. Read more: Fosun set [...]
Hays Travel paid just £6m for 555 Thomas Cook stores October 23, 2019 Hays Travel paid just £6m for Thomas Cook’s 555 high street stores after the firm’s collapse. Hays bought the stores from the government’s Insolvency Service earlier this month, while also offering jobs to 2,000 former Thomas Cook employees. Read more Hays Travel buys 555 Thomas Cook stores Dean Beale, from the Insolvency Service, told MPs [...]
MPs slam ‘inconceivable’ judgement of Thomas Cook auditor EY October 22, 2019 Thomas Cook’s auditor, EY, has faced a barrage of criticism from MPs, who called it “inconceivable” that accountants judged it a sustainable business in the year leading to its collapse. Bosses at EY and PwC, two of the so-called big four accountancy firms, were hauled in front of the business select committee this morning as [...]
On the Beach swoops in for Thomas Cook market share after collapse October 22, 2019 Package holiday firm On the Beach has jumped at the opportunity created by the collapse of Thomas Cook, it said today, nudging shares up in early trading. The London-listed firm said the failure of the 178-year-old travel giant has “created an unprecedented opportunity to take additional market share at an increased rate”. Read more: Thomas [...]
PwC accused of conflict of interest over advice given to Thomas Cook October 20, 2019 PwC has been accused of a conflict of interest for advising Thomas Cook executives on their pay and bonuses while it was also the auditor of the now-defunct travel firm. The Big Four firm audited Thomas Cook’s accounts between 2008 and 2016. Its accounts show PwC also earned £4m providing “recruitment and remuneration” advice to [...]
Thomas Cook liquidators secure bids for valuable airport slots October 16, 2019 The liquidators of collapsed airline Thomas Cook are said to have secured bids from some of the UK’s largest carriers after kicking off an auction of dozens of UK airport slots. KPMG set a deadline of 5pm today for bids for the take-off and landing slots as part of an auction that could raise tens [...]
Blame game: Thomas Cook bosses point finger at government as MPs slam high pay October 15, 2019 Former Thomas Cook bosses have pointed the finger at the government for failing to stump up emergency cash to keep the firm trading last month, in a heated evidence session with MPs. Members of the collapsed holiday giant’s board, including chairman Frank Meysman and chief executive Peter Fankhauser, were today hauled in front of MPs [...]