Summary

  • Get in touch: bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk

  • 95% of passengers returned to UK on Monday

  • Thomas Cook customers told to expect 'bumpiness'

  • 22,000 jobs at risk after Thomas Cook collapse

  1. Your questions answeredpublished at 07:38 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    Do you have questions about the collapse of Thomas Cook?

    Are you concerned about flying back to the UK or reclaiming money?

    The BBC is here to answer your queries.

    Email your questions to Business Live bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk

  2. Thomas Cook travellers fly back from Turkeypublished at 07:36 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    Man stands in front of Thomas Cook advert at Dalaman airportImage source, Reuters

    Thomas Cook passengers in Turkey have started returning from Turkey, according to the state-funded news agency Anadolu.

    It said around 1,000 tourists have started returning to the UK from Dalaman airport on 12 planes that were sent by the CAA.

    An additional 3,000 travellers are expected to leave during the day. Tourists waiting for return flights at the airport were informed by officials who came from the UK.

  3. Airlines take over Thomas Cook flightspublished at 07:29 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

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  4. Thomas Cook: The auditor gets a pass on this onepublished at 07:27 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    Thomas Cook planeImage source, Getty Images

    Should Thomas Cook's auditors, EY, done more to see the company's collapse coming?

    Stephen Clapham, founder of Behind the Balance Sheet, says that every indication pointed to Thomas Cook being able to continue.

    "There was an issue about was the company a going concern? And I think for any auditor it would be extremely difficult to say the company wasn't a going concern, because there was every expectation that the banks would extend more facilities, that the... major Chinese shareholder [Fosun] would extend more facilities.

    "I think the auditor gets a pass on this one."

  5. 'It's been an absolute pleasure'published at 07:22 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    Thomas Cook employees have been tweeting their feelings with the hashtag #thomascookstaff after the collapse of the firm, which has cost them their jobs.

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  6. Thomas Cook chooses elite law firmspublished at 07:16 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    LawyersImage source, Getty Images

    While there is a lot of focus on how much the management of the now-failed Thomas Cook were paid over the last five years, another interesting titbit is the company's choice of lawyers - which could run up quite a bill.

    The Financial Times reported that Thomas Cook used Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance and Latham & Watkins.

    Slaughter and May and Clifford Chance are part of the UK's elite magic circle of law firms.

    An equity partner at Slaughter and May earned an average £2.6m in its last financial year according to industry publication The Lawyer.

    At Clifford Chance, The Lawyer says that the average profit per equity partner is £1.62m.

    Latham & Watkins is one of the leading law firms in the US and its average profit per equity partner $3.45m (£2.8m).

  7. Thomas Cook: Victim of circumstance or author of misfortune?published at 06:53 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    Thomas Cook planeImage source, Reuters

    One question about Thomas Cook is was it the victim of external factors such as the rise of the internet, heatwaves, the weakness of sterling; or were these wounds more self-inflicted?

    Stuart Gordon, a senior equity analyst at Berenberg Bank, says: "This is an industry that's always been affected by external factors, and it's undoubted that Thomas Cook has faced significant operational challenges.

    "At the same time, however, I do think that there have been some financial issues over time, which meant that if these issues converged collectively you would face a very difficult financial position, and perhaps that's something management could have addressed earlier."

  8. The cost of the Thomas Cook rescuepublished at 06:50 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    Passengers at Cancun airport in Mexico face a long journey homeImage source, EPA
    Image caption,

    Passengers at Cancun airport in Mexico face a long journey home

    So who is paying for the biggest repatriation of British citizens in peacetime?

    CAA chairwoman Dame Deirdre Hutton says that 60% of affected passengers are covered by the Air Travel Organiser's Licence (ATOL) scheme and 40% are non-ATOL.

    Referencing the collapse of Monarch Airlines in 2017, Dame Deirdre says that repatriation cost about £50m - Thomas Cook "is about double the size so somewhere around £100m".

    She says: "Roughly you can assume that 60% will come out of the Air Travel Trust, which is the fund that arises from the Atol payments."

  9. Thomas Cook customers in shock over flight pricespublished at 06:38 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    Passengers at an airportImage source, Reuters

    Customers who booked flights with collapsed travel firm Thomas Cook are now trying to find replacement deals - and being forced to pay triple the original price in some cases.

    Holidaymaker Angela Mills told the BBC a flight from Glasgow to Rhodes in Greece was £280 on Sunday, but was now £1,000.

    Analysts said the inflated prices reflected high demand on routes operating with few spare seats.

    Read more

  10. Thomas Cook: An old business in a modern worldpublished at 06:37 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    BBC Radio 5 Live

    Thomas Cook shopImage source, Getty Images

    Wake Up to Money asked CAA chairwoman Dame Deirdre Hutton about the oversight of Thomas Cook.

    "We regulate it for safety, we regulate it once a year by giving them a licence and they will get a licence provided they can show us they have 12 months’ finance in place, but there have been new entrants into the market."

    She says: "Thomas Cook has had its problems for a number of years. I think for me the biggest issue for them was there were new very competitive low-cost entrants into the market and Thomas Cook frankly was operating on a rather old model.

    "I saw one commentator describe it as operating with brochures in an age of barcodes and I think that is very much the issue."

  11. CAA chairwoman: 13 days and 135,000 passengerspublished at 06:27 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    BBC Radio 5 Live

    Thomas Cook passengers at Dalaman Airport in Turkey board a plane to the UKImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Thomas Cook passengers at Dalaman Airport in Turkey board a plane to the UK

    CAA chairwoman Dame Deirdre Hutton tells Wake Up to Money that Operation Matterhorn - the programme to return Thomas Cook passengers to the UK after the firm went bust - went well on Monday.

    "We ran 64 flights, we brought back just under 15,000 people that was over 90% of those we intended to bring back which is actually pretty good for a first day.

    "But I’m conscious that we’ve got a huge job to do still because that’s about 8% of the total but a reasonable start."

    She says: "There were some operational problems and we’ll continue to see those so again I ask people to bear with us as we deal with the bumpiness of this."

    The CAA is scheduled to return 16,500 people to the UK on Tuesday.

    There are, however 13 days to go and 135,000 passengers still to bring back.

  12. CAA: We want people to enjoy their holidaypublished at 06:18 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    Thomas Cook passengers at airportImage source, Reuters
    Quote Message

    Following the very sad news yesterday morning that Thomas Cook had stopped trading and its aircraft were grounded, we launched at the government’s request our operation to return more than 100,000 people to the UK. A repatriation of this scale and nature is unprecedented and unfortunately there will be some inconvenience and disruption for customers. We will do everything we can to minimise this as the operation continues. We want people to continue to enjoy their holiday, so we will bring them back to the UK on their original departure day, or very soon thereafter.”

    Richard Moriarty, chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority,

  13. CAA repatriates 95% of Thomas Cook passengerspublished at 06:10 British Summer Time 24 September 2019
    Breaking

    The CAA says that it brought back 14,700 Thomas Cook passengers on Monday - equal to 95% all those due to return yesterday.

    It says 74 flights sare cheduled to operate today, to bring back a further 16,500 people.

    The repatriation programme - known as Operation Matterhorn - will continue until Sunday 6 October with more than 1,000 flights planned.

    Information on rescue fares available for passengers departing the UK are available on thomascook.caa.co.uk, external

    Day one of Operation Matterhorn

    • Flights completed: 64
    • Passengers back in the UK: 14,700
    • Unique visitors to dedicated site: 1,825,166
    • Page views on dedicated site: 6,845,009
  14. MyTravel deal helped sink Thomas Cookpublished at 06:00 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    BBC Radio 5 Live

    Man in front of Thomas Cook shopImage source, AFP/Getty

    Financial analyst Frances Coppola has taken a good look at Thomas Cook's books to see where things went wrong for the firm and the key issue was "just how extremely indebted it was".

    She tells Wake Up to Money: "I remember looking at the balance sheet and all I could see was this massive pile of liabilities and no assets."

    To be fair, Ms Coppola says that because it is a travel company is doesn't have much in the way of assets.

    But she pinpoints Thomas Cook's acquisition of a company called MyTravel in 2007 - under the then chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa - which left it with a lot of debt and "it has never made any money on it".

  15. In other news...published at 05:50 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    TUI Group's share price over one month
    Image caption,

    TUI Group's share price over one month

    While Thomas Cook's woes very much continue, its closest rival TUI Group is set to release a trading update at 07:00 this morning.

    TUI Group's share price rocketed on Monday after Thomas Cook went into liquidation in the early hours.

    It'll be interesting to see if TUI references Thomas Cook in today's statement.

  16. Good morning!published at 05:45 British Summer Time 24 September 2019

    Thomas Cook planesImage source, Getty Images

    Welcome to Business Live.

    Thomas Cook remains firmly in focus today as the Civil Aviation Authority continues its efforts to bring thousands of passengers home to the UK.

    The management of the world's oldest travel company are in the spotlight over their handling of the business as well as the £20m that has been paid out to them over the last five years.

    The BBC would like to hear from you - whether you are travelling back to the UK, are perhaps having difficulties leaving your hotel because of payments due from Thomas Cook or you used to work for the company.

    Email Business Live at bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk