Civil Aviation Authority has flown back 40 per cent of stranded Thomas Cook holidaymakers
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A total of 61,000 Thomas Cook customers have now been flown back to the UK by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
On Thursday it used 69 flights to bring home a further 15,000 people, taking the total of those returned to the UK following Thomas Cook’s collapse to 40 per cent.
Read more: MPs launch inquiry into collapse of Thomas Cook
Another 72 flights are scheduled for Friday, with 16,000 people to be brought back to the UK as part of the CAA’s repatriation scheme.
Operation Matterhorn is set to continue until 6 October with more than 1,000 flights planned in total.
The CAA said that 95 per cent of passengers have been flown home on the planned day of their departure.
“An operation of this scale and complexity will inevitably cause some inconvenience and disruption and I am very grateful to holidaymakers for bearing with us as we work around the clock to bring them home,” said Richard Moriarty, chief executive of the CAA.
Thomas Cook collapsed early on Monday morning after a rescue deal fell through and a last-ditch approach for a government bailout worth £200m was rebuffed.
Lenders had demanded an extra £200m on top of the £900m already agreed by main shareholder Fosun, but were unable to stump up the cash.
The holiday group had a balance sheet deficit of more than £3bn, which included £1.9bn of debt and guarantees to organisations such as the Civil Aviation Authority, bonding providers and payment service providers.
Read more: Thomas Cook collapse: Regulators and business groups clamour for answers
Falling into administration meant that around 155,000 Brits were left stranded abroad and its 9,000 UK workers were put out of a job.
Thomas Cook’s German-based airline business, Condor, did receive a bailout from the German government worth €380m (£336m) in the form of a loan to help tie the company over until its sold.