The shops will be rebranded under the Hays Travel banner, meaning the 178-year-old Thomas Cook name will disappear from the high street in the wake of its high-profile implosion. The Hays, who have already hired 597 former Thomas Cook staff, said they hoped to double the headcount of their family business by taking on the tour operator’s entire 2,500-strong workforce. The couple insisted they could make a success of the business where Thomas Cook’s previous management had failed. They pointed to the fact that, unlike Thomas Cook, Hays is free of debt even after the cash-funded acquisition, and operates from lower-cost headquarters in Sunderland. The union urged ministers to call a halt to the insolvency process of Thomas Cook’s “profit-making” airline.

Source: The Guardian October 09, 2019 08:41 UTC