Peter Fankhauser | |
|---|---|
 Fankhauser in 2018 | |
| Born | 18 November 1960 Trub, Switzerland |
| Education | University of St. Gallen |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Title | Former CEO, Thomas Cook Group |
| Term | November 2014 – September 2019 |
| Predecessor | Harriet Green |
| Successor | None, compulsory liquidation |
| Children | 4 |
Peter Fankhauser (born 18 November 1960) is a Swiss businessman, who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Thomas Cook Group from 2014 until its collapse in 2019.
Fankhauser was born on 18 November 1960 [1] in Trub and grew up in Burgdorf. [2] [3] He has a doctorate from the University of St. Gallen [4] in political science. [5] He was once an aerobics teacher and a national-level gymnast on the Swiss 'B' team. [6] [1]
He was responsible for managing the European division of the tourism company Kuoni and worked for the leisure airline LTU in Germany. [7]
Fankhauser joined Thomas Cook Group in 2001. He led the German business of Thomas Cook, expanded and made it the most profitable tour operator in Germany. [8] He was promoted to chief operating officer in November 2013. [7] In November 2014, it was announced that Harriet Green was to leave Thomas Cook Group with immediate effect, and that Fankhauser would take over as CEO. [9]
Fankhauser received £8.3 million worth of pay since becoming CEO, including a £2.9 million bonus in 2015. During that year, he faced criticism of how Thomas Cook handled the deaths of two children whilst on holiday in Corfu. He admitted that Thomas Cook "failed to show compassion" following calls to boycott the company over its behaviour. [10] He took changed the direction and focus of Thomas Cook on prioritising customer seevice, transformed it into a customer centric business. [11] [12] He was reinventing Thomas Cook by launching new Hotel concepts like Casa Cook [13] and Cooks Club and expanded into China the fastest growing travel market in the world. [14]
Thomas Cook was subject to widespread speculation about its financial position throughout 2019. By September the company had secured £900 million in funding as part of a debt-for-equity swap, including a £450 million investment from Chinese travel group Fosun International. [15] Despite this, a late demand emerged from funders of the Group including Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Halifax, [15] who insisted that the Group be sufficiently recapitalised to ensure operations were protected through to January, when bookings are traditionally quieter and liquidity would be challenging. [15] [16] This demand meant the group needed an extra £200 million guarantee to keep the company operational. [15] These efforts did not succeed, with the UK Government Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps stating that they would not step in to provide a state guarantiee of £200 million, instead stating it would only support the Civil Aviation Authority response to any bankruptcy, which he said was "on track so far" and "running smoothly". [17] Media reports indicated that a group including the Turkish government and a group of Spanish hoteliers backed by Spanish ministers had offered financial support in order to assist their domestic industries, but that the rescue had failed because "the British government said it was not prepared to provide any financial guarantees to underpin the funding package." [18]
In the morning of 23 September the company declared bankruptcy and entered compulsory liquidation, which took effect at all Thomas Cook Group UK companies. [19] Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia temporarily ceased operations, [20] while other sister companies suspended or continued operations, depending on their corporate relationship. The liquidation left 150,000 British tourists in need of repatriation, [18] the largest such case in British history, ahead of the 2017 collapse of Monarch Airlines. Fankhauser apologised to colleagues and customers for the "deeply sad day", [21] but blamed banks for its collapse stating that "an additional facility requested in the last few days of negotiations presented a challenge that ultimately proved insurmountable." [22] [23] Hedge funds have also been noted as major beneficiaries of the events, with "Thomas Cook the most shorted company on the London Stock Exchange" prior to the collapse. [24]
In October 2019 Fankhauser was criticised at a hearing of the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, its chair calling his apology "rather hollow". [25] On 12 January 2022 Sky reported that the Group's executives have been cleared by the Insolvency Service after a two-year probe. The Service had decided to take no further action against former directors of Thomas Cook.
Fankhauser is now a professor at the University of St. Gallen and a managing partner in a consultancy company specialised in transformation. [26] [27]
MyTravel Group plc was a British, global travel group headquartered in Rochdale, England. It was founded in 1972 as Airtours Group. The group included two in-house airlines, MyTravel Airways UK and MyTravel Airways Scandinavia, and various tour operators around the world. On 19 June 2007, the group merged with Thomas Cook AG to form the Thomas Cook Group plc.
Monarch Airlines, simply known as Monarch, was a British charter and scheduled airline founded by Bill Hodgson and Don Peacock and financed by the Swiss Sergio Mantegazza family. The company later became a low-cost airline in 2004 before abandoning charter flying completely. The airline's headquarters were based at London–Luton, and it had operating bases at Birmingham, Leeds/Bradford, London–Gatwick and Manchester.
Thomas Cook Airlines Limited was a British charter and scheduled airline headquartered in Manchester, England. It was founded in 2007 from the merger of Thomas Cook Group and MyTravel Group, and was part of the Thomas Cook Group Airlines. It served leisure destinations worldwide from its main bases at Manchester Airport and Gatwick Airport on a scheduled and charter basis. It also operated services from eight other bases around the United Kingdom. Thomas Cook Group and all UK entities including Thomas Cook Airlines entered compulsory liquidation on 23 September 2019.
A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destination. Travel agencies can provide outdoor recreation, arranging logistics for luggage and medical items delivery for travellers upon request, public transport timetables, car rentals, and bureau de change services. Travel agencies can also serve as general sales agents for airlines that do not have offices in a specific region. A travel agency's main function is to act as an agent, selling travel products and services on behalf of a supplier. They are also called Travel Advisors. They do not keep inventory in-hand unless they have pre-booked hotel rooms or cabins on a cruise ship for a group travel event such as a wedding, honeymoon, or other group event.
Omni Air International, LLC. is a United States charter airline headquartered in Hangar 19 on the grounds of Tulsa International Airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. It is specialized in passenger charter flights and Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) wet leasing. Omni Air International is a member of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet as a long-range international carrier. Omni Air International is a FAA Part 121 certificated airline with IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registration.
TUI AG is a German leisure, travel and tourism company; it is the largest such company in the world. TUI is an acronym for Touristik Union International. TUI AG was known as Preussag AG until 1997 when the company changed its activities from mining to tourism. It is headquartered in Hanover, Germany.
Josef Meinrad Ackermann is a Swiss banker, former Chairman of the Bank of Cyprus, and former chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank. He has also been a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.
Thomas Cook AG was an Anglo-German, global travel group. The group had its headquarters in Rochdale, and sold products such as package holidays and flights through its 3 in-house airlines. On 19 June 2007, the group merged with MyTravel Group plc to form the Thomas Cook Group plc, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) is a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) scheme to give financial protection to people who have purchased package holidays and flights from a member tour operator.
Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — and MyTravel Group until 23 September 2019, when it went into compulsory liquidation. The group operated as a tour operator and airline, and also operated travel agencies in Europe. At the time of the group's collapse, approximately 21,000 worldwide employees were left without jobs and 600,000 customers were left abroad, triggering the UK's largest peacetime repatriation.
Strategic Airlines Pty Ltd, trading as Air Australia Airways, was an Australian airline flying domestic and international scheduled passenger flights. Strategic Aviation, a sister company, flew air charter flights using the Air Australia fleet or other leased aircraft. Both companies had their head office in Hendra, a suburb of Brisbane.
Harriet Green is a British businesswoman, who was chairman and CEO of IBM Asia Pacific, and previously led three IBM business divisions: the Internet of things, customer engagement and education businesses.
Iain Rawlinson is an English businessman.
Christianne and Robert Shepherd were an English sister and brother from Horbury, West Yorkshire who died of carbon monoxide poisoning while on holiday in Corfu in October 2006. At the time of their deaths, Christi was seven years old and Bobby was six.
Greybull Capital LLP is a private investment company that specialises in medium- to long-term investments in UK-based companies. It was incorporated as a limited liability partnership in April 2010. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Greybull's strategy was to buy distressed firms and return them to success.
Hays Travel Limited is an independent travel agent chain headquartered in Sunderland, England. As of February 2024, the company has the largest number of retail travel shops in the United Kingdom at 494.
Thomas Cook Group Airlines Limited was an airline holding company of the defunct British Thomas Cook Group. The airlines operated as a single operating segment of the Thomas Cook Group to allow aircraft to be used when and where they were needed. There were five members of the airline division at the time of the airline's closing, consisting of Condor, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines Balearics, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, and Thomas Cook Aviation. The airline operated with a total of 105 aircraft based in the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany.
Thomas Cook Aviation GmbH was a German leisure airline launched in 2017 and a technical subsidiary of Condor. It operated scheduled flights exclusively on behalf of Condor to destinations throughout Europe, from its bases in Düsseldorf and Leipzig/Halle. In April 2020, the airline filed for insolvency.
Sunclass Airlines A/S is a Danish charter airline that operates charter services from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The company is affiliated with Ving Group, a Nordic tour operator. It was, together with Ving Group, a part of Thomas Cook Group until 23 December 2019 when Norwegian investor Petter Stordalen and Strawberry Group rebranded the company as Sunclass Airlines.
Thomas Cook Tourism (UK) Company Limited, known as Thomas Cook UK, is an Anglo-Chinese package holiday provider which offers 'Flight + Hotel' packages and Hotel only bookings. The company was launched in 2019, when Chinese firm Fosun International purchased the brand from the insolvent Thomas Cook Group, and began trading in September 2020.
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