The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Department for Transport are understood to be in close communication with Thomas Cook as the travel company’s future looks uncertain.
Shares in Thomas Cook fell 20% on Friday morning after the company issued a statement confirming it needed to find £200m to plug a financial hole.
According to Sky News, the 178-year-old travel agent has been holding emergency talks this week, including on a deal to offload its Nordic airline and tour operating units in order to raise funds.
If the company cannot secure extra funding, it risks going bust. The collapse would likely see the loss of around 9,000 jobs in the UK and many more overseas, plus what would be the UK’s biggest repatriation in peacetime. If the company collapsed, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority would be forced to bring home 150,000 Britons currently thought to be overseas as part of holiday packages with Thomas Cook Group. The operation would be significantly larger than when Monarch Airlines collapsed in 2017.
Thomas Cook has been advising customers on Twitter that their flights and holidays are currently operating ‘as normal’.
