Todd Bishop
British veteran travel group Thomas Cook officially declared bankruptcy on September 23, and all passengers’ journeys were cancelled on the same day. It is expected that 600,000 passengers will be affected.
Thomas Cook earlier received 900 million pounds (about 8.8 billion Hong Kong dollars) through the aid agreement, but failed to discuss the additional 200 million pounds (about 2 billion Hong Kong dollars) capital injection plan with creditors and shareholders on the 20th, only to declare bankruptcy .
Thomas Cook’s airlines also need to be grounded today, and 20,000 employees in 16 countries will be temporarily suspended. The British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) stated that it has received a notice from the travel group about the disruption of business.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that 150,000 of the 600,000 affected passengers have already left the UK, and all journeys need to be terminated immediately. The British government and CAA have indicated that they are helping the affected tourists to return to China, or will become the largest returning country in the UK since World War II.
Thomas Cook was also translated as “Tongji Lu” in Hong Kong. The group’s predecessor, Thomas Cook & Son, was founded in 1841 and is a very historic travel agency in the UK. The company was reorganized and merged in 2002 and 2007 to become today’s Thomas Cook Group. The company has its own flight team with 117 aircraft.
