TUI jobs on the line?
Thomson, the UK arm of German travel giant TUI, is expected to bear the brunt of a series of cost cutting measures due to be unveiled this week.
Speculation is focussing on a series of measures which could include slashing thousands of jobs at its holiday businesses, mainly in the UK.
The crunch is expected to come following a meeting of the TUI supervisory board on Thursday, with suggestions that up to 4,000 staff across Europe could be shed.
TUI has declined to comment in advance of the meeting but reports from Germany suggest the UK is being targeted for big job losses.
All mainstream operators have suffered from what many in the industry believe has been the worst summer in 15 years.
First Choice said last week that its mainstream business – subject to sell-off talks – had seen underlying operating profits drop by 7% to £53.7 million as a result of early season bird flu fears in Turkey, the World Cup and unusually hot weather in the UK in July which led to weaker selling prices.
The gloomy picture is expected to be echoed by MyTravel, a prospective purchaser of the First Choice arm, when it issues its full year results on Thursday.
Meanwhile, reports from Germany suggest that TUI is in discussion with the world’s largest cruise conglomerate Carnival about running the distribution of its German cruise arm AIDA.
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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