Thomas Cook Collapses

[ZariusTwo]

Thomas Cook has collapsed after last-minute negotiations aimed at saving the 178-year-old holiday firm failed.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the tour operator had "ceased trading with immediate effect".

It has also triggered the biggest ever peacetime repatriation, aimed at bringing more than 150,000 British holidaymakers home.

Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook's chief executive, said the firm's collapse was a "matter of profound regret".

Commenting as the company entered compulsory liquidation, Mr Fankhauser also apologised to the firm's "millions of customers, and thousands of employees".

The tour operator's failure puts 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, including 9,000 in the UK.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49791249

[IMJ]

20,000 lost jobs is impactful because apparently they were a global organization, but at the same time a very good argument could be made that this is a natural, competitive decline rather than a global economic indicator, no?

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by IMJ

20,000 lost jobs is impactful because apparently they were a global organization, but at the same time a very good argument could be made that this is a natural, competitive decline rather than a global economic indicator, no?

Correct, they never aimed to compete with online travel booking, all their planning with their customers was done at their high street installations

[IMJ]

Yup, okay. So with that, then I'd say that this organization died from failure to adapt, and although I lament the lost livelihood, good riddance anyway. The market will give rise to a valid, competitive organization in it's place.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Brexit and the Climate Issue flying debate may have contributed.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

Brexit and the Climate Issue flying debate may have contributed.

I'd say Brexit more than anything.
I read that this closure led to one of the most significant repatriations Britain has seen, so it will be interesting to hear what those voices coming home do in this political climate.

As for the "climate-climate"? Before I make the next statement, I just want to be clear that I do believe that climate care is super important, and that I wish that organizations would do more about it of their own volition, rather than having to be forced by government edict. That's a rare failure of capitalism - to not recognize that the free market would respond to clean technologies on the end user level.

With that said, I'd argue that millennials aren't traveling as much because they have never aggregated the financial resources for expenses like that. These people aren't even buying houses and the older millenials are now in their 30's. But many will tell you that they don't fly for "climate care reasons".