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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Helen Bennicke

More than 127,000 Thomas Cook passengers now brought back to UK after holiday firm collapse

More than 127,000 stranded Thomas Cook passengers have been flown home to the UK following the travel firm's collapse.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority launched Operation Matterhorn, the largest peacetime repatriation of Britons, on September 23, following the collapse of the world's oldest travel company.

So far, more than 130 aircraft have been used to bring home the passengers. On Wednesday this week, there were 42 flights operating to bring home 6,500 passengers in ttal.

A further 25 flights are scheduled to operate on Thursday, bringing home another 5,000 passengers.

Operation Matterhorn is scheduled to end on Sunday.

An ATOL representative helps a passenger at Manchester Airport after Thomas Cook collapse (Getty Images)

Richard Moriarty, Chief Executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: "The CAA continues to work around the clock to deliver our two-week flying programme to bring more than 150,000 people back to the UK.

"At the same time, we are focused on refunding the 360,000 ATOL-protected future bookings as quickly as possible.

"With just four days until the end of our flight programme and 19,000 people left to bring back to the UK, we are beginning to combine more Thomas Cook flights into single CAA flights.

"We are sorry that, for some passengers, this means they will not arrive at the UK airport they had originally booked to return to. For these flights, the CAA will be on hand when they land to help them with their onward journeys."

A dedicated website for Thomas Cook customers is still operational at thomascook.caa.co.uk .

Thomas Cook's executives have faced a barrage of criticism after it emerged the last five chief executives took multimillion pound bonuses between them before the company went under.

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