Thomas Cook Group

This article is about the defunct publicly listed Thomas Cook company. For its current successor, see Thomas Cook Tourism. For its former German company, see Thomas Cook AG. For the original Thomas Cook company, see Thomas Cook & Son.

Thomas Cook Group plc
Company typePublic
LSE: TCG
FWB: TCG
OTCMKTS: TCKGY
ISINGB00B1VYCH82
IndustryHospitality, tourism
Predecessors
Founded5 July 1841; 183 years ago (1841-07-05) in Leicester, England as Thomas Cook[1]
FounderThomas Cook
Defunct23 September 2019; 5 years ago (23 September 2019)
FateCeased trading and entered into compulsory liquidation[2]
Successors
HeadquartersLondon, England, United Kingdom
Area served
Global
Key people
Frank Meysman Non-Executive Chairman
Peter Fankhauser (CEO)
ProductsCharter and scheduled passenger airlines, package holidays, cruise lines, hotels and resorts
Services
  • Package holidays
  • Flights
  • Hotels
RevenueIncrease £9,584 million (2018)[8]
Increase £250 million (2018)[8]
Decrease -£163 million (2018)[8]
Number of employees
21,000
DivisionsThomas Cook Group Airlines
Subsidiaries

Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — and MyTravel Group[9] until 23 September 2019, when it went into compulsory liquidation. The group operated as a tour operator and airline, and also operated travel agencies in Europe. At the time of the group's collapse, approximately 21,000 worldwide employees were left without jobs (including 9,000 UK staff) and 600,000 customers (150,000 from the UK) were left abroad, triggering the UK's largest peacetime repatriation.[10][11]

After the collapse, segments of the company were purchased by others, including the travel stores in the UK, the airlines, the Thomas Cook name and logo, the hotel brands and the tour operators. Thomas Cook India has been an entirely separate entity since August 2012, when it was acquired by Fairfax Financial and thus was not affected.[12] In September 2020, Fosun International launched Thomas Cook Holidays as the successor to the company, hiring some former Thomas Cook Group staff in the process.[13]

  1. ^ "Thomas Cook's Leicester". Story of Leicester. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  2. ^ "Compulsory liquidation of Thomas Cook Group plc". Thomas Cook Group. Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  3. ^ Davies, Rob; Sweney, Mark (9 October 2019). "Thomas Cook stores buyer hopes to re-employ entire 2,500 workforce". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  4. ^ "Ving, Spies, Tjäreborg and Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia acquired by consortium". CAPA. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  5. ^ Nachiappan, Arthi (31 October 2019). "Norwegian Strawberry group and Altor swoop on Thomas Cook assets". The Times. Retrieved 10 November 2019.(subscription required)
  6. ^ "Thomas Cook brand sold to Club Med owner Fosun for £11m". BBC News. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019. He said: 'The acquisition of the Thomas Cook brand will enable the group to expand its tourism business building on the extensive brand awareness of Thomas Cook and the robust growth momentum of Chinese outbound tourism.'
  7. ^ Thomas, Daniel (1 November 2019). "Fosun acquires Thomas Cook brand assets for £11m". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  8. ^ a b c "Annual Results 2018" (PDF). Thomas Cook Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  9. ^ "Thomas Cook Key Dates". Hotel Nicolle. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  10. ^ Authority, UK Civil Aviation (22 September 2019). "Thomas Cook Group, including the UK tour operator and airline, has ceased trading with immediate effect. All #ThomasCook bookings, including flights and holidays, have now been cancelled". @UK_CAA. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  11. ^ "British travel firm Thomas Cook collapses, stranding 600,000 people abroad". CNBC. 23 September 2019.
  12. ^ Gandhi, Forum (23 September 2019). "Why Thomas Cook (India) is not affected by Thomas Cook's collapse". Business Line. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  13. ^ Kleinman, Mark (7 September 2020). "Thomas Cook: Chinese owner plots relaunch in eye of pandemic storm". Sky News. Retrieved 27 April 2021.