Thomas Cook In Last Minute Rescue Talks: How Likely Are They To Survive?
22 September 2019, 08:40
The travel company is set to hold crisis talks this morning to try and avoid falling into administration.
The meeting with its biggest shareholder is understood to be scheduled for 10am on Sunday.
The government has been urged to help Thomas Cook.
They need a £200m cash injection to survive.
Currently there are 600,000 Thomas Cook customers on holiday, of which about one quarter are British.
Many are worried that they will be left stranded abroad or have their holidays cancelled if the crisis isn't resolved.
Independent travel expert, Frank Breheny, joined Ian Payne to discuss just how much trouble Thomas Cook is in.
Frank said: "This weekend, we've seen them ask for £200m from the UK government. I have to say, I think that's unlikely because, for example, the government didn't provide for Carillion or British Steel. So I'm pretty sure they're not going to break that precedent."
Frank said we'll have to wait over the weekend to see if they can secure that funding from other investors.
Ian asked: "If there's no government bailout, do you think those holidaymakers might be in trouble and they'll have to be rescued, as it were?"
Frank said if they can't secure the funding, it "may" be quite difficult for Thomas Cook to continue. In which case, the consumer financial protection which is embodied into every package holiday will kick in.
