Overview

Thomas Cook Group plc was a British multinational travel company formed in June 2007 through the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group. It inherited the Thomas Cook name, whose commercial travel history reached back to the excursion business established by Thomas Cook in 1841, but the listed group itself was a later corporate combination. The group became one of Europe's largest integrated holiday businesses, combining tour operation, airline capacity, retail travel agencies, accommodation and destination services. Its business model was based on selling packaged holidays and related travel products through both high-street agencies and digital channels. The group operated or marketed several airline businesses, including Thomas Cook Airlines in the United Kingdom, Condor in Germany and Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, as well as hotel and resort brands such as Casa Cook, Cook's Club, Sentido, Smartline, Sunprime and Sunwing in different markets. It also owned or controlled tour operators and travel businesses including Neckermann, Öger Tours, Bucher Reisen, Air Marin and Intourist at various points in its corporate history. Thomas Cook expanded through acquisitions and partnerships during the late 2000s and early 2010s. These included Hotels4U.com, Elegant Resorts, Gold Medal International and Öger Tours. In the United Kingdom, it combined its retail branch network with The Co-operative Travel, creating the country's largest travel retail network at the time. The group subsequently bought out its partners and returned the branches to Thomas Cook branding. The company faced increasing financial and structural pressure in its final years. Its liabilities remained high, while holiday demand was increasingly influenced by online booking, changing consumer preferences, geopolitical disruption, adverse weather and fuel costs. The group also carried significant debt from its integrated operating model and earlier expansion. In the first half of its 2019 financial year, it reported a loss of approximately £1.5 billion, including a substantial goodwill impairment. Thomas Cook negotiated emergency financing, a proposed debt-for-equity restructuring and a strategic transaction with Fosun International. Under the proposed arrangement, Fosun would have acquired a majority stake in the tour-operator business while lenders and other investors supported the remaining restructuring. The company was unable to secure the additional liquidity required to continue operating through the winter season. In the early hours of 23 September 2019, the UK Civil Aviation Authority announced that Thomas Cook Group had ceased trading and entered compulsory liquidation. The collapse stranded approximately 600,000 customers worldwide, including about 150,000 British holidaymakers, and left around 21,000 employees without work. The resulting repatriation, known as Operation Matterhorn, became the largest peacetime repatriation in British history. After liquidation, different assets were sold separately. Hays Travel acquired the former UK retail stores, Nordic operations were acquired by an investor consortium and became associated with Sunclass Airlines, and Fosun bought the Thomas Cook name, logo and selected hotel brands. In 2020, Fosun launched Thomas Cook Holidays as a successor business, separate from the liquidated group.

History

The modern Thomas Cook Group was created in 2007, when Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group agreed to combine their businesses. The transaction brought together the successor to the historic Thomas Cook & Son travel business and the Scandinavian-rooted MyTravel operations. A new holding company acquired both businesses and was listed on the London Stock Exchange. The ownership structure initially gave the former KarstadtQuelle, later Arcandor, shareholders a majority stake, with MyTravel shareholders holding the balance. The merged group pursued vertical integration across tourism. It sold package holidays, operated airlines, distributed accommodation and maintained retail travel agencies. In 2008 it acquired Hotels4U.com, bought back rights to use the Thomas Cook brand in the Middle East and Asia, acquired the luxury specialist Elegant Resorts and purchased Gold Medal International, the owner of Netflights. It also developed Thomas Cook TV and other travel-content and entertainment initiatives. Arcandor's 2009 insolvency did not immediately bring down Thomas Cook, and its stake was subsequently sold by creditor banks. During the next phase, Thomas Cook expanded its European tour-operation portfolio. It acquired German company Öger Tours in 2010 and combined its British branch network with The Co-operative Travel. The joint venture, approved by the Competition Commission in 2011, created a very large UK high-street travel presence. Thomas Cook later bought out the other shareholders after The Co-operative Group decided to leave, gradually returning the stores to Thomas Cook branding. The group also made strategic disposals, including the sale of Gold Medal Travel to dnata in 2014. Leadership changed several times. Manny Fontenla-Novoa, who had led the business before the 2007 merger and remained chief executive until 2011, was followed by Harriet Green in 2012. Green emphasized transformation and digital development but left in 2014, when chief operating officer Peter Fankhauser became chief executive. During the latter part of the decade, Thomas Cook continued to operate a broad portfolio of airlines, tour operators, travel agencies and hotel brands. It sold its Belgian airline operations to Lufthansa in 2017, while continuing to operate other airline businesses in the United Kingdom, Germany and Scandinavia. The group's integrated structure also left it exposed to substantial fixed costs and debt. Online competition changed how customers searched and booked holidays, while terrorist incidents in popular destinations, the 2018 European heatwave, Brexit-related uncertainty and higher fuel costs affected demand or operating economics. Analysts and investors increasingly questioned whether the airline and tour-operation businesses should be separated. By 2019 the company was carrying a debt burden reported at approximately £1.6 billion and was under intense pressure from lenders and shareholders. In February 2019, the group said it had received interest in its airline operations and in the company as a whole. It secured emergency funding from banks in May, but reported a first-half loss of approximately £1.5 billion, a large part of which resulted from goodwill impairments. Thomas Cook then entered discussions with Fosun International about a recapitalization and sale of a majority interest in the tour-operator business. In August, the proposed structure involved Fosun taking 75% of the tour business and a separate ownership arrangement for the airline operations, supported by a debt-for-equity transaction. The rescue plan did not provide enough liquidity to satisfy the group's financing requirements. A final effort to close the restructuring failed during the night of 22–23 September 2019. Airports began impounding arriving aircraft over unpaid charges, and the Civil Aviation Authority announced that Thomas Cook had ceased trading and entered compulsory liquidation. Approximately 600,000 customers were abroad, including about 150,000 British travelers, while around 21,000 employees worldwide lost their jobs. Operation Matterhorn used aircraft from several airlines to repatriate British customers. The liquidation separated the group into individual assets and businesses. Hays Travel bought the former UK retail stores. An investor consortium acquired Thomas Cook Northern Europe, with the Scandinavian airline subsequently becoming Sunclass Airlines. Fosun acquired the Thomas Cook name, logo and certain hotel brands. Other assets and brands were sold to companies including easyJet, Jet2holidays, Anex Tours and DER Touristik. Thomas Cook Germany closed after failing to find a buyer for the whole business, although several of its brands and operations were later sold. In 2020, Fosun relaunched a Thomas Cook-branded holiday business, but this did not revive the original listed group.

2020
Thomas Cook Holidays launches
[1]Thomas Cook Groupen.wikipedia.org
Fosun International introduces a successor holiday business using the Thomas Cook brand.
2019
Group enters compulsory liquidation
[1]Thomas Cook Groupen.wikipedia.org
The company ceases trading on 23 September after rescue financing and restructuring efforts fail.
2019
Post-liquidation asset sales begin
[1]Thomas Cook Groupen.wikipedia.org
Retail stores, airlines, airport slots, tour operators, hotel brands and intellectual property are sold to different buyers.
2017
Belgian airline operations are sold
[1]Thomas Cook Groupen.wikipedia.org
Thomas Cook transfers its Belgian airline business to Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines.
2014
Peter Fankhauser becomes chief executive
[1]Thomas Cook Groupen.wikipedia.org
Fankhauser succeeds Harriet Green as chief executive.
2011
UK travel retail joint venture approved
[1]Thomas Cook Groupen.wikipedia.org
The Thomas Cook and Co-operative Travel branch-network combination receives regulatory approval.
2010
Öger Tours acquisition
[1]Thomas Cook Groupen.wikipedia.org
Thomas Cook adds the German tour operator Öger Tours to its portfolio.
2008
Expansion into online booking and specialist travel
[1]Thomas Cook Groupen.wikipedia.org
The group acquires Hotels4U.com, Elegant Resorts and Gold Medal International.
2007
Thomas Cook Group is established
[1]Thomas Cook Groupen.wikipedia.org
Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group complete their merger, creating a new London-listed travel group.

Products and positioning

Mass-market, vertically integrated European leisure travel group offering one-stop holiday packages through tour operators, airlines, hotels and physical and digital distribution channels.

Package holidays
Thomas Cook package holidays
The group's core consumer offering combined flights, accommodation, transfers and destination services into organized holidays. Packages were sold through Thomas Cook retail branches, partner networks, websites and affiliated tour operators across European source markets.
Leisure airline
Thomas Cook Airlines
Thomas Cook operated leisure-airline businesses that supplied capacity for its own holiday programs and also carried flight-only customers. The best-known operations were based in the United Kingdom, while related airline entities operated in Germany, Belgium and Scandinavia.
Hotels and resorts
Thomas Cook Hotels & Resorts
The accommodation division developed, marketed or operated resort properties and hotel brands aimed at different segments of the package-holiday market. Its portfolio included concepts such as Casa Cook, Cook's Club, Sentido, Smartline, Sunprime and Sunwing.
Tour operator
Neckermann Reisen
Neckermann Reisen was one of the group's German tour-operator brands, offering packaged holidays and related travel products. The trademark rights were later acquired from the liquidators by Anex Tours.
Leisure airline
Condor
Condor was the group's German airline operation and a major part of its European aviation portfolio. It continued separately after the Thomas Cook liquidation with support from the German government and was not ultimately transferred to LOT Polish Airlines after that proposed transaction was withdrawn.

Controversies

2018
Deaths and illness at Hurghada hotel
A British couple died while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic resort in Hurghada. Egyptian authorities attributed the deaths to a heart attack and shock, while the couple's daughter raised concerns about the hotel's air-conditioning system. Thomas Cook evacuated roughly 300 guests after other holidaymakers reported illness.
Source
2015
Corfu carbon-monoxide deaths and inquest findings
Christianne and Robert Shepherd died from carbon-monoxide poisoning at a Corfu hotel in 2006 during a Thomas Cook-booked holiday. Thomas Cook employees were acquitted in a Greek criminal case and the company was cleared there, but a 2015 UK inquest concluded that the deaths constituted unlawful killing and that the group had breached its duty of care. Subsequent criticism also focused on the company's handling of a donation to UNICEF connected with compensation received from the hotel owners.
Source

Marketing campaigns

2009Thomas Cook TV
United Kingdom · Europe
Thomas Cook entered an online-video hosting and distribution arrangement to support Thomas Cook TV, extending the brand's travel content and digital marketing activity.
Outcome. Digital content initiative during the group's multichannel expansion.
Source

Brand decisions

2019
Proposed Fosun recapitalizationM&A
Background
Thomas Cook needed new capital and debt restructuring after reporting a very large first-half loss and facing significant liquidity pressure.
Action taken
The group proposed selling Fosun International a 75% interest in its tour-operator business as part of a broader restructuring.
Aftermath
The transaction failed to deliver sufficient liquidity, and Thomas Cook entered compulsory liquidation in September 2019.
Proposed consideration for 75% of the tour-operator business. £450 million proposed (August 2019)
Source
2019
Compulsory liquidationOther
Background
The company could not close its rescue financing package or satisfy lenders that it had enough liquidity to trade through the winter.
Action taken
Thomas Cook ceased operations and entered compulsory liquidation after final rescue negotiations failed.
Aftermath
Approximately 600,000 customers were left abroad, about 21,000 employees lost their jobs and the UK government coordinated Operation Matterhorn to repatriate British travelers.
Reported debt burden. Approximately £1.6 billion (2019)
Source
2011
Create a combined UK retail networkStrategy
Background
Thomas Cook sought greater scale in high-street travel distribution by combining its branch network with The Co-operative Travel.
Action taken
The companies formed a joint venture that combined their UK travel stores and used Co-operative branding for the merged network.
Aftermath
The arrangement created the UK's largest travel network at the time, but Thomas Cook later bought out the other shareholders and rebranded the stores.
Source

Recent events

2020-07-18
Thomas Cook launches a global lifestyle platform[2]Thomas Cook推出全球生活方式平台tech.sina.com.cn
Reported: 2020-07-19
Fosun Tourism announced on July 18 that it had launched a new Thomas Cook-branded lifestyle platform for global users, bringing together products and services from its brands and other lifestyle service providers.
2019-12-06
Raiffeisen Touristik acquires Thomas Cook Germany[3]Raiffeisen Touristik 收购 Thomas Cook 德国业务egyptindependent.com
Reported: 2019-12-06
Samih Sawiris acquired the German subsidiary of Thomas Cook through his Raiffeisen Touristik Group. The transaction required the transfer of hundreds of travel agencies to Sawiris.
2019-12-03
Thomas Cook India agrees to acquire Thomas Cook brand rights in three markets[4]Thomas Cook India同意收购Thomas Cook品牌在三个市场的权利businesstoday.in
Reported: 2019-12-03
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd signed an agreement with AlixPartners, the appointed special managers of Thomas Cook UK, to acquire ownership of the Thomas Cook brand name in India, Sri Lanka and Mauritius for a one-time payment of Rs 13.9 crore. The agreement provides perpetual, royalty-free use rights.
2019-11-15
Agreement announced for acquisition of Intourist from Thomas Cook[5]宣布达成从托马斯·库克收购Intourist的协议business-standard.com
Reported: 2019-11-15
Intourist said Turkish investor Neset Cockar announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Intourist from Thomas Cook Group. Completion was subject to regulatory approvals.
Unconfirmed
Fosun bought Thomas Cook brand intellectual property[6]复星买下Thomas Cook品牌知识产权资产finance.sina.com.cn
Reported: 2019-11-04
Fosun Group bought Thomas Cook’s brand intellectual property assets for £11 million after Thomas Cook announced bankruptcy.
2019-11-02
Fosun acquires Thomas Cook brand rights[7]复星收购Thomas Cook品牌权arabnews.com
Reported: 2019-11-02
Fosun acquired the brand rights to Thomas Cook, as well as subsidiary hotel chains Casa Cook and Cook’s Club, for $14.2 million (£11 million).
2019-11-01
Fosun Tourism agrees to acquire Thomas Cook brand assets[8]复星旅文同意收购Thomas Cook品牌资产finance.sina.com.cn
Reported: 2019-11-01
Fosun Tourism Group announced that it had entered into an asset purchase agreement with Thomas Cook Group and its subsidiaries to acquire rights and interests in specified intellectual property assets, including the Thomas Cook, Casa Cook and Cook’s Club brands.
2019-11-01
Fosun Tourism Culture agrees to acquire Thomas Cook intellectual property assets[9]复星旅游文化签约收购托马斯·库克知识产权资产finance.sina.com.cn
Reported: 2019-11-04
Fosun Tourism Culture entered an asset purchase agreement to acquire intellectual property assets from Thomas Cook Group and its subsidiaries, including rights to certain trademarks, domains, software applications, social media accounts and licenses for the Thomas Cook, Casa Cook and Cook’s Club brands, for £11 million.
Unconfirmed
Fosun Tourism–Thomas Cook acquisition deal fails[10]复星旅文收购托马斯库克交易告吹sxdaily.com.cn
Reported: 2019-09-25
Fosun Tourism’s attempted acquisition and restructuring of Thomas Cook failed after the parties did not find a suitable solution.
Unconfirmed
Thomas Cook’s German subsidiary announces insolvency filing[11]托马斯·库克德国子公司宣布申请破产bbc.co.uk
Reported: 2019-09-25
Thomas Cook’s German subsidiary announced that it was filing for insolvency, saying it sought to save its national brands after the collapse of the UK parent company.

Showing the 10 most recent.