Thomas Cook falls deeper into red
Bookings are up this year, Thomas Cook said
Losses at German-owned travel group Thomas Cook have doubled and the firm has warned it will stay in the red this year despite an upturn in bookings.
Europe’s second-largest travel firm, owned by airline Lufthansa and retailer KarstadtQuelle, saw annual losses balloon to 251m euros (£169.5m).
Dismissing speculation that it might be broken up, Thomas Cook said it would embark on a tough cost-cutting drive.
The company said it planned to cut 10% of its 5,500 strong German workforce.
Its cost-cutting strategy also involves saving 100m euros in its air transport division, covering the charter airline Condor, and shutting down unprofitable travel agents
Market turbulence
Thomas Cook’s internal problems have been exacerbated by a weak global travel industry hit last year by a sluggish world economy, the war in Iraq and the Sars virus.
“Major structural changes are not on the agenda,” the company’s new chief executive Wolfgang Beeser said.
“We are not selling Thomas Cook UK. Nor will we be disposing of our activities in France, nor any of the group’s other main units.”
Mr Beeser stressed that the general economic situation had improved, with market growth in 2004 expected to be between 2% and 4%, with bookings already up 3.7% on the previous year.
Thomas Cook’s travel empire includes 33 tour operators, around 3,600 travel agencies, a fleet of 83 aircraft and a global workforce of about 26,000.
Last June, a press report said rival group Kuoni had been in merger talks with Thomas Cook.
Kuoni denied merger talks, but said discussions had been held about a link-up between the two group’s airline operations
By: wysiwyg - 11th March 2004 at 11:13
JMC wasn’t amalgamated into Thomas Cook, it just changed its operating title.
Condor were supposed to become Thomas Cook Germany as that was the wish of C&N Touristik who puchased Thomas Cook in the UK and renamed themselves Thomas Cook AG.
Yes, you could end up having Thomas Cook UK while Condor either operates under its own name or goes belly up.
By: greekdude1 - 10th March 2004 at 19:52
If Condor had such a big problem taking on the Thomas Cook name, then why didn’t they just continue with their own identity as a subsidiary of Lufthansa? Did Lufthansa relinquish control of them? Basically what you’re saying that if Thomas Cook ‘goes under,’ the UK division will continue on while the German division will disappear, correct?
P.S. Did Jmc Air get amalgamated into Thomas Cook?
By: wysiwyg - 10th March 2004 at 19:31
Condor has always had a BIG problem with the idea of taking the name Thomas Cook. That’s why they’ve never fully gone through with the colour scheme change. Thomas Cook UK will continue regardless of what the Germans do and at the end of the day it is the British operation that holds all rights to the Thomas Cook name. By the way, I learnt today that out of the massive profit the UK arm made last year 10% was made by the tour operator and 90% by the airline.
By: greekdude1 - 9th March 2004 at 23:18
I read somewhere that the German division is going back to original “Condor” titles from the current “Thomas Cook powered by Condor” titles, but the tail will retain the Thomas Cook insignia. Now lets say this airline went under, would Condor also go belly up or would they go back to being what they were before, which was a subsidiary of Lufthansa?
By: Ren Frew - 9th March 2004 at 22:32
Originally posted by wysiwyg
Thomas Cook UK made record profits last year and was one of the most profitable (if not the most profitable) UK charter airline.Now if only the Germans would stop taking all our profits to shore up their failures…
Sounds similar to the BBC in London taking all the profits made in the regions to shore up it’s expenses policy.:rolleyes:
By: wysiwyg - 9th March 2004 at 21:15
Thomas Cook UK made record profits last year and was one of the most profitable (if not the most profitable) UK charter airline.
Now if only the Germans would stop taking all our profits to shore up their failures…
By: Jeanske_SN - 9th March 2004 at 20:58
Wow. If they go bankrupt, it will result in total chaos for people stuck at their holiday destinations and people not able to travel! Is Thomas Cook Belgium seperated fro them?
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March 9, 2004 at 8:55 pm