World’s oldest tour company Thomas Cook collapses leaving vacationers stranded

Hundreds of thousands of vacationers were left stranded when one of the world’s oldest tour companies, Thomas Cook, announced with some of its flights still in the air, that it was going out of business.

The 178‑year‑old travel company had been in poor financial health for some time. It announced its closing after negotiations to obtain £200 million pounds, in emergency financing fell apart over the weekend.

Saddened to see the demise of Thomas Cook – a firm that had been providing holidays for 178 years https://t.co/0Y5yzKQ7V4 pic.twitter.com/1TEx6MVLns

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) September 23, 2019

Amid scenes of confusion at airports in European vacation spots, British aviation officials scrambled to stitch together a plan to bring home 150,000 travelers — the largest peacetime repatriation in the country’s history.

The company, which opened for business in 1841, said that all its bookings, including flights operated directly by the company, had been canceled.

Last ever #ThomasCook flight in the UK landing into Manchester airport just now. Awfully sad to see so many job losses in an industry I love pic.twitter.com/AxfIoDRfjP

— LFCFanFly (@LFCSIXTIMES123) September 23, 2019

The jarring news snarled travel plans for hundreds of thousands as tourism officials braced for a potentially devastating hit to their economies.

[Source:New York Times]

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