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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Business
Asharq Al-Awsat

Egypt Operator Owed $7.7 Million by Thomas Cook

FILE PHOTO: A Thomas Cook Scandinavia Airbus A330 plane takes off from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, Spain, September 25, 2019.REUTERS/Borja Suarez

Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel firm, has dues of 125 million Egyptian pounds ($7.7 million) to local operator Blue Sky Group, Blue Sky's chairman Hossam El-Shaer said on Monday.

Thomas Cook collapsed last week, sparking a major tourist repatriation effort and a scramble for survival among many of its subsidies.

Blue Sky said last week that 25,000 reservations in Egypt booked up to April 2020 had been canceled, and that it had been expecting 100,000 tourists to visit Egypt via Thomas Cook next year.

Britain's aviation regulator said on Monday that refunds of bookings by Thomas Cook customers could take longer than expected as the regulator does not have all information needed from the collapsed travel firm.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it was launching a new, online payment system next week for bookings made by payments methods other than direct debit and would enable customers to get refunds within 60 days of receiving refund forms.

A total of 100,000 bookings made by direct debit would be refunded within the next 14 days.

53 flights are scheduled to operate on Sept. 30, returning 8,000 people following the firm’s collapse, the regulator said.

CAA said more than two-thirds of the total number of customers have been repatriated.

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