COLLAPSE
THOMAS COOK
Fifty ex-Cook executives targeted for LifeLine fund
Harry Kemble
Two former Tomas Cook executives have teamed up to launch a major fundraising appeal to help cash-strapped former staff. Former UK managing director
John McEwan and ex-chief executive John Donaldson have drawn up a list of 50 former executives they are targeting. McEwan said they hoped to raise
“a significant six-figure sum” and pledges of up to £50,000 had already been made. Tey announced the move on
Tuesday morning as former Cook chief executive Peter Fankhauser was grilled over his salary by MPs. Fankhauser said: “I don’t try
to defend my pay in comparison to workers’ salary. Tat is not my intention. What I can say is I worked exhaustively and extremely hard for my salary. I didn’t succeed and I said that I’m going to consider that [paying some back], but I’m not going to decide that today.” Te fundraising campaign is being
run with the Abta LifeLine charity, which said nearly 500 former Tomas Cook staff had contacted it for help. It
The people of
Thomas Cook [were] its most valuable asset and it’s devastating to see them suffer
has so far raised about £70,000. McEwan, an Abta LifeLine
trustee, said: “Our primary purpose is to reach deeper within Tomas Cook over the last 20 years and appeal to people personally. Abta LifeLine might not be able to get people
John McEwan
John Donaldson
that are not on social media.” McEwan did not reveal which
former executives they were targeting. “It is a confidential list,” he said. “Tey may or may not want to comment and say if they made a donation.” He said he had been surprised at
the number of enquiries. Donaldson said: “It is through
their loyalty and the strong culture that was built up over the years that made the people of Tomas Cook the company’s most valuable asset and
it’s devastating to see them suffer.” i Donations can be made at:
bit.ly/CookLifeLine
Operators ramp up capacity to fill void left by Thomas Cook
Operators have been ramping up capacity to destinations where Tomas Cook had a strong presence as the industry bids to fill the void leſt by the travel giant. Tui put on two million extra seats out of UK airports
for summer 2020 to Turkey, Greece, the Balearics, the Canaries, Egypt, Mexico and Florida last week. Jet2holidays’ parent Dart Group reported
“increased levels of customer demand since Tomas Cook entered into liquidation” in a trading update last week as Jet2holidays wrote to trade partners to
6 17 OCTOBER 2019
emphasise “millions of extra holidays” it had added. Red Sea Holidays revised schedules to Hurghada,
with Fly Egypt providing weekly charter flights from Birmingham, Manchester and Gatwick from mid- October, and Enter Air offering a similar programme from December 17 to the end of April 2020. But the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist
Accommodation warned that Cook’s collapse could lead to as many as 500 hotels being shut down, and losses of millions of euros to the country’s tourism sector.
travelweekly.co.uk
Former Freedom member Very Holidays folds
Online travel agency and former Freedom Travel Group member Very Holidays has ceased trading. Te business, which was owned
by former Freedom Direct Holidays bosses Martin Jones and Nick Jackson, had recently joined the Midcounties-run Co-operative Travel Consortium following the failure of Tomas Cook. Te majority of bookings
made while it was a member of Freedom have been taken on by Hays Travel. Around 100 bookings are understood to have been made since it joined the Co-operative Travel Consortium. Te agency, which used to
be called Very Cheap Holidays, advertised via its website and online aggregators such as
icelolly.com. It is understood to have turned
over just over £10 million a year and is thought to be the first agency failure since the collapse of Tomas Cook on September 23. Very Holidays posted on its
Facebook page a week aſter the collapse announcing it had joined Midcounties and received a new Abta number. “We were leſt completely in the
dark immediately aſter the failure [of Cook] without any support from the failed Tomas Cook Group or any of the trade bodies,” the post read. “We were unable to book new holidays for our new clients and access to all systems we had used was blocked.” Jones is the former chief
executive of call centre and online travel agency Freedom Direct Holidays, which went into liquidation in 2009. Jackson was managing director.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
