Rescue of Thomas Cook clients expected to cost about £100 million
As Operation Matterhorn to repatriate 150,000 Thomas Cook holidaymakers kicked in yesterday, it emerged that 60% of the estimated £100 million bill will be funded by ATOL, the remainder will most likely be picked up by taxpayers.
Almost 15,000 holidaymakers were flown home on day one of the mass repatriation effort, with only 8% of those due to fly back yesterday left behind.
The Civil Aviation Authority has chartered 45 aircraft from around the world to get all Thomas Cook clients – including flight-only customers whose holidays weren’t financially protected by Thomas Cook’s ATOL – back to the UK at the end of their holidays.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the government had decided to bring all clients home, including those without ATOL protection, due to the extent of the disruption.
"Thomas Cook’s collapse is very sad news for staff and holidaymakers," he said. "The government and UK CAA is working round the clock to help people. Our contingency planning has helped acquire planes from across the world – some from as far away as Malaysia – and we have put hundreds of people in call centres and at airport.
"But the task is enormous, the biggest peacetime repatriation in UK history. So, there are bound to be problems and delays. Please try to be understanding with the staff who are trying to assist in what is likely to be a very difficult time for them as well."
He said the repatriation effort will be about twice the size of the £50 million rescue of Monarch’s clients following its collapse in 2017 (in fact, around 110,000 Monarch customers were flown home).
The CAA expects to operate more than 1,000 flights up to October 6. A total of 64 flights were completed yesterday, carrying 14,700 passengers. A further 74 flights are due to operate today, when an estimated 16,800 people will be flown home.
CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty said: "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."
He said customers would be flown home at the end of their holidays, ‘or very soon thereafter’.
CAA chairwoman Dame Deirdre Hutton told the BBC that the flying programme 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.
"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."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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