Thomas Cook buyer Hays Travel to slash 878 jobs
Hays Travel, which bought Thomas Cook last year after the holiday firm fell into administration, will cut 878 jobs.
Nearly a fifth of its total workforce of 4,500 will be made redundant through the cuts as the travel industry continued to suffer the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement, owners John and Irene Hays said: “We are devastated that after all of our efforts and the huge investment we’ve made we now face losing some of our valued employees, through no fault of their own.
“Following the decision to ban travel to Spain and the changes in furlough conditions coming at the same time, we have had no choice.”
Last weekend the government banned all travel to the Iberian country, one of the UK’s most popular holiday destinations, after a rise in cases.
In early July, when the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s restriction on non-essential travel lifted, the firm said was on track for recovery and holiday bookings had returned to a workable level.
These are the first redundancies in the firm’s 40-year existence.
“We are now consulting with 344 colleagues who are training as travel consultants and 534 who work in the foreign exchange division.
“Our experienced travel sales staff, apprentices and other head office staff are not affected”, they added.
Back in October Hays Travel paid just £6m for Thomas Cook’s 555 high street stores after the firm’s collapse.
Hays bought the stores from the government’s Insolvency Service, while also offering jobs to 2,000 former Thomas Cook employees.
The firm, which is the UK’s largest independent travel agent, won widespread acclaim for taking on the bust operator’s stores.
However, it also doubled the firm’s employee headcount, putting extra pressure on Hays when the travel industry collapsed as the pandemic struck.