Thomas Cook liquidation: What's happened to the travel company and how many Brits are stranded abroad?

23 September 2019, 08:42

By Mared Parry

@maredparry

A whopping 150,000 holidaymakers are stuck abroad and the battle to bring them back has begun.

Thomas Cook has collapsed into liquidation and the shocking news has left tens of thousands of Brits stranded abroad.

But what's going to happen to the holidaymakers who booked holidays with the travel company? We reveal all...

What's happened to Thomas Cook?

Running for a whopping 178 years, Thomas Cook was one of the longest-running travel agencies in the world but has now gone into liquidation.

The company collapsed following a plea for lenders to reduce the £200m funding demand which didn't go through.

According to Sky, insiders have explained that the company has tried "every possible option" to rescue the agency, along with a whopping 20,000 jobs but none have worked.

This means that 9,000 Brits have lost their jobs as a result, however, Thomas Cook have stated on their site that they are "working on recapitalisation planes to provide financial stability for the Thomas Cook Group going forward".

On all of their different company Twitter accounts, they've stated: "We are sorry to announce that Thomas Cook has ceased trading with immediate effect.

"This account will not be monitored.

"Please visit http://thomascook.caa.co.uk for further advice and information."

What will happen to the holidaymakers?

Everything is still a bit uncertain at the moment when it comes to all of the stranded holidaymakers, as this collapse has ensued the biggest ever peacetime repatriation of British citizens.

It's estimated that around 150,000 holidaymakers from the UK are currently stranded abroad, and it's likely that public money will be used to bring them all back home.

The Civil Aviation Authority has launched a taxpayer-funded airlift in order to bring them home, similar to what happened when airline Monarch went under in October 2017.

Around £60m was used back then to bring everyone back, but it's estimated that it could be even more this time around.