WEB DESK
The first batch of 1,50,000 British tourists is being flown back home from destinations including Bulgaria, Cuba, Turkey and the United States after travel firm Thomas Cook collapsed yesterday. The United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is co-ordinating the repatriation, the biggest in peacetime, after the tour operator ceased trading with immediate effect.
Thomas Cook’s administration puts 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, including 9,000 in the UK. The corporate bankruptcy left some 6,00,000 tourists stranded worldwide. Thomas Cook, whose roots go back to 1841, went bust after last-ditch talks to raise fresh funding failed. The British Government refused to fund a bailout of two hundred fifty million pound.