The world’s oldest travel company in the world, Thomas Cook is reported to collapse on Sunday (9/22/2019). The news undeniably generates some other problems. One of them is Condor, the airline company in which the share is 49% owned by Thomas Cook, is predicted to face bankruptcy.
The financial problem causes Condor to make a loan to the German government up to US$220 million. Currently, the company waits for the response from the government. Thomas Cook’s collapse makes more than 600,000 tourists to be stranded. It includes thousands of Germans who travel in other countries.
The Minister of Economy of Germany, Peter Altmaier stated that the government will decide to give financial support for the next few days. Meanwhile, Ralf Teckentrup, the Chairman of Condor stated that the management will put efforts to save the company. They will not leave behind all of their duties. This way, they can still carry customers to their destinations and bring back home safely as usual.
Although he said with optimism, the airline will not take other passengers that have booked Thomas Cook and its subsidiaries. In other words, he suggests the customers contact their own tours for more explanations.
Some Impacts Suffered by Company’s Subsidiaries
Once has been the biggest tour and Travel Company in Europe, Thomas Cook has many subsidiaries for sure. Some of them are famous enough including Neckermann, Oger Tours, Air Marin, and Bucher Reisen. But different from its parent company, the subsidiaries still operate although they stop opening new services. In general, the subsidiaries are still healthy and profitable.
All the business units of Thomas Cook in Netherland have cancelled all trips that are ordered via Thomas Cook Netherland and one of its subsidiaries, Neckermann. Previously, the company said that they may fulfill orders of trips but unfortunately, they are not successful.
A special call center has been prepared for those who feel the impact. As a result, some lucky tourists can still go to their destinations via Thomas Cook including 10,000 Dutch who travel back with Thomas Cook.
While in Belgium, the Thomas Cook unit stated that many subscribers that have booked holiday packages cannot do the trips in the near future. In this country, some subsidiaries have been closed on Tuesday. It is along with the statement from Leen Segers. He said that the crew of the company has determined not to let new subscribers go these days.
Brussels Airlines also have stopped to accept passengers that have booked travel packages through Thomas Cook and Neckermann. The airline has canceled many flights operated under the name of Thomas Cook including them that fly to Tunisia.
The worse case is experienced by Thomas Cook France. More than 9,600 customers will go to court as an effort to go into receivership. The situation itself is quite puzzling so that some of those customers may sue the company with more accusations.
Based on some facts above, it is still too risky for passengers to book flights and holiday packages using services from this travel company. it is unless the government agrees to give loan so that Thomas Cook can be saved and operated.
The Main Cause of Bankruptcy
It is quite weird for many people; how a big company can be simply collapsed only in a short period of time. As information the signs of bankruptcy have actually been seen from some years ago. However, some attempts could still be done to avoid such a thing happening.
Based on statements and analysis from some experts, there are at least 3 reasons that cause the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook. They are the big number of bankruptcy, more competitors, and geopolitical uncertainty. The company even needs the addition of 200 million Pounds after it makes a loan of 900 million Pounds previously.
The president of Thomas Cook has met the creditor in London on Sunday as an attempt to discuss the last agreement. The discussion result was expected to give good news to the company; it was that the company still has a chance to survive. Unfortunately, the result was still far from expectations.
Based on the original provision of the plan, a creditor from China would give 450 million Pound or US$ 552 million as a reward. It the number values at least 75% from the tour operator business. Meanwhile, 25% is from the airlines. The bank that held Thomas Cook obligation even planned to add 450 million pounds. Then, the loan would be turned into equity. This way, those banks would handle 75% of airline shares and 25% of the operator business.
