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An Airbus plane from the Thomas Cook company takes off from Mallorca, Spain, on July 28, 2018. REUTERS / Paul Hanna / File Photo

Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel agency, announced on Monday (September 23rd) that it was going into liquidation, forcing authorities to repatriate nearly 600,000 travelers worldwide. The group also employed 22,000 employees.

The debt was estimated at 1.7 billion pounds (1.9 billion euros), a deep chasm to hope a more successful outcome of negotiations that Thomas Cook, founded in 1841, had begun.

His fate was played out in a few days: creditors asked him last week to find 200 million pounds (227 million euros) of additional funding for an already accepted rescue plan of 900 million pounds and conducted by the Chinese Fosun, the first shareholder, to be validated. Marathon discussions were held all weekend, but to no avail. The travel specialist has been hit hard by competition from online sites and geopolitical uncertainties like Brexit.

" I would like to apologize to our millions of customers, and thousands of employees, suppliers and partners who have been supporting us for many years. Peter Fankhauser said in a statement released Monday morning at dawn. " We deeply regret, as well as the other members of the board of directors, for not having succeeded . "

22,000 employees

The immediate project is titanic: taking care of some 600,000 tour operator customers worldwide, including 150,000 British.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it will work with the government to repatriate some 150,000 British customers over the next two weeks. " Due to the magnitude of the situation, some disruptions are inevitable (...) Thomas Cook has ceased operations and all Thomas Cook flights are now canceled, " warned the body. State and insurance companies charge 450,000 other tourists to repatriate them. But the bankruptcy of the company may cause chaotic scenes around the world, vacationers being stranded in hotels that have not been paid.

The Thomas Cook agency manages hotels and resorts, air routes and cruises. With 21,000 employees including 9,000 across the Channel, it operates in 16 countries and deals with 19 million customers a year.

(With AFP, Reuters)