Earlier today Thomas Cook ceased operations. While that’s unfortunate for the hundreds of thousands of people who are stranded as a result of this, I feel the worst for the roughly 21,000 Thomas Cook employees who are without jobs as of today.
“Rescue” efforts are now underway for those who are still stranded, but there were also lots of flights that operated overnight back to the UK, which would be the last flights ever for the airline.
Here’s a video of the incredibly touching announcement made after landing this morning on a Cancun to Manchester flight:
You only need to hear the first 1min45sec, as I’m not sure why the video keeps running beyond that. Perhaps that’s interesting to watch as well, though, so you can hear commentary about how RBS nearly put the country in financial collapse, etc.
My hats off to all those Thomas Cook staff who were this professional until the very last second, and here’s to hoping they can all find jobs in the industry again without too much trouble.
Virgin will as ever sit on their hands and then complain about the outcome afterwards. They are not the same kind of beast as Thomas Cook and never will be.
Easyjet will go after the LGW and possibly MAN capacity on shorthaul and TUI will cautiously go after some long haul and the rest will be left to the open market.
An interesting article about the situation...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/24/businesses-thomas-cook-fail-executives-ignore-brutal-facts-bonus
@biokozy yes but the others are not yet out of a job as Condor etc. are still operating.
Noah/Brit: I wouldn't be so sure about Virgin snapping up the slots/aircraft/crew. Virgin will want the slots, undoubtedly, but they will want them at rock bottom prices.
Anyone remember when BMI ceased operations at LHR (at the time BMI had the second highest number of slots at LHR after BA)? So BMI's slots were up for grabs. PERFECT opportunity for Virgin to expand at LHR in a fashion that they had been (supposedly) fighting for...
Noah/Brit: I wouldn't be so sure about Virgin snapping up the slots/aircraft/crew. Virgin will want the slots, undoubtedly, but they will want them at rock bottom prices.
Anyone remember when BMI ceased operations at LHR (at the time BMI had the second highest number of slots at LHR after BA)? So BMI's slots were up for grabs. PERFECT opportunity for Virgin to expand at LHR in a fashion that they had been (supposedly) fighting for for years.
So how do they progress....? They put in a ridiculously low bid and allowed themselves to be outbid by BA which offered a realistic amount. Virgin of course expected the competition authorities to step in and they did to a degree by insisting some slots were given up....the catch being, the slots that were given up could only be used by other airlines on certain short haul routes (ie ones that BA would now have a monopoly on, mainly UK domestic). Virgin stepped up with Little Red, then pulled the plug after a short time.
And yet, Virgin commissioned a report just last month demonstrating BA's dominance at LHR. A dominance that Virgin themselves stood by and let happen.
So let's see if they put their money where their mouth is this time.
@Lucky: my bad. Havent seen main news.
@Julian: 9k just in UK. In total group has around 21k employees worldwide.
Congratulations for covering and I am sorry to hear about the loss of your company.. As many of you know, working and traveling in the industry is a life style that cannot be replicated outside. This is not just a loss of a job, but a loss of a life style.
Thoughts with all who will lose there jobs and associated companies affected.
Isn't it 9000 rather than 21000? Still bad of course but I think 21K was the number including Condor and Scandinavian subsidiaries who are still operating and have not declared bankruptcy (yet?)
There are reports that Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia is still operating? Is this true?
I am amazed to how short this article is. Only 7 sentences. Lucky come on. You have written longer article about DXB taxi service. And taxi service is marginal news. This is huge deal.
I guess this the biggest one so far this year, and there have been some other big or big-ish airlines that went under (Jet Airways, Germania, WOW) or other smaller ones with long-term nostalgia (Flybmi, the Aviancas).
@Alex: Indeed heart-breaking, considering that we have had to go through this in another part of the world this year (when Jet Airways collapsed, thousands of employees took to the roads of Delhi, etc. in protest). But this is far, far bigger and worse.
What an emotional video, heartbreaking to hear the F/A tear up during his announcement. Kind of reminds me of that incredibly emotional videos made by the crews on a few of Transaero’s last flights, saying goodbye to the passengers, thanking them for years of loyalty, etc...
@noah Bowie
The pilots will be fine an a320 type rating will get them in with someone quickly enough and an a330 can be turned into an a320, kept or turned into an a350 rating in a matter of day. But cabin crew and checkin staff will have less certain fate. By the way it no longer an on going concerned so whomever wants bits and pieces can just buy those bits and pieces.
Agree This has VS written all over it especially when you look at their ambitious plans announced last week. The slots and The fleet of 330s (granted old 330s) will fit nicely allowing VS to consolidate LGW and MAN options freeing up aircraft and slots for elsewhere. Then there are the 320/321 fleet. Granted it means VS taking over leases but it gives them a good increase in capacity and, don’t forgot, a lot financial...
Agree This has VS written all over it especially when you look at their ambitious plans announced last week. The slots and The fleet of 330s (granted old 330s) will fit nicely allowing VS to consolidate LGW and MAN options freeing up aircraft and slots for elsewhere. Then there are the 320/321 fleet. Granted it means VS taking over leases but it gives them a good increase in capacity and, don’t forgot, a lot financial and legal due diligence will have been done earlier in the year when VS made an offer- it means this won’t be an impulse buy by VS. Combined with the integration of BE all of a sudden VS becomes a much larger player and that’s before we even consider the KL-AF agreement.
They'll probably find jobs again fairly soon. The value of Thomas Cook's airline business was clearly shown as earlier this year many companies put in offers for some or all of Thomas Cook with the value adding up to over a billion pounds. The value of their large amount of slots at Gatwick and Manchester airport alone has got Virgin Atlantic interested. I'd give it a few weeks till we hear the news from Virgin...
They'll probably find jobs again fairly soon. The value of Thomas Cook's airline business was clearly shown as earlier this year many companies put in offers for some or all of Thomas Cook with the value adding up to over a billion pounds. The value of their large amount of slots at Gatwick and Manchester airport alone has got Virgin Atlantic interested. I'd give it a few weeks till we hear the news from Virgin that they've bought Thomas Cook airlines UK. The main area where people are losing jobs is in Thomas Cook's offices across Europe and in their more than 500 travel agent shops across the UK. Those people are in for a much harder task.
Did you ever fly them Lucky?