Thomas Cook: A 178-Year Firm's Overnight Collapse and Operation Matterhorn

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On September 23, 2019, Thomas Cook, founded in 1841, went into compulsory liquidation, stranding about 600,000 travelers and ending 21,000 jobs. Its decline started with the June 2007 merger with MyTravel Group, pitched as saving over 75 million pounds a year, followed by purchases including Hotels4U, Elegant Resorts and Gold Medal International, and roughly 249 million euros to buy back its brand name in the Middle East and Asia. In 2010 it merged its high street shops with the Co-operative Group to form the UK's largest retail travel network, adding fixed costs as customers moved online.

In 2006 two British children aged seven and six died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty boiler on a Thomas Cook holiday in Corfu; a 2015 UK inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing. Thomas Cook had received 3 million pounds from the hotel owners and later gave 1.5 million pounds to UNICEF without consulting the family. In 2019 it reported a 1.5 billion pound half-year loss, including 1.1 billion pounds of goodwill write-downs, on 1.6 billion pounds of debt, and blamed Brexit, fuel costs and the 2018 heatwave. A 450 million pound Fosun rescue stalled when banks sought another 200 million pounds, and the government refused a bailout.

• In August 2018 John and Susan Cooper died at an Egyptian hotel; their daughter blamed the air conditioning, and about 300 guests were moved out.
• Airports began impounding arriving Thomas Cook planes by midnight on the final night.
• Operation Matterhorn chartered about 40 aircraft, including a Malaysia Airlines A380, to fly home 150,000 UK travelers.
• Fosun bought the Thomas Cook name and logo for 11 million pounds.
• Hays Travel took over all 555 UK shops, saving about 2,500 jobs.