Most of Thomas Cook stranded customers back in UK

PHOTO: The Guardian

More than half of of the 150,000 holidaymakers left stranded abroad following the collapse of British travel company Thomas Cook are now back in the UK.

The local Civil Aviation Authority says that 76,000 people have now been repatriated in the first six days of ‘Operation Matterhorn’ – Britain’s largest peacetime repatriation of its citizens.

178 year old, debt-plagued Thomas Cook, which struggled against fierce online competition for years and maintains the ongoing Brexit uncertainty for a drop in bookings, declared bankruptcy last Monday after failing to secure another bailout.

The CAA said 95% of passengers were returning on the day they were originally scheduled to return. The operation will continue until October 6, with more than 1,000 flights planned to complete the repatriation mission. Some 76 flights were scheduled yesterday returning 16,700 people back to Britain.

“After five days, Operation Matterhorn has now flown home over half of the 150,000 customers who were abroad at the time Thomas Cook stopped trading,” said CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty.

“An operation of this scale and complexity will inevitably cause some inconvenience and disruption and I would like to thank holidaymakers for bearing with us as we work around the clock to bring them back.”

The CAA said it was processing hundreds of payments to hotels hosting Thomas Cook customers to ensure they could stay on and complete their holidays. 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.

SOURCE: Agence France-Presse