Thomas Cook has approached the UK government for a bailout in a potential lifeline for worried holidaymakers.
The British travel firm has requested an extra £200m pounds ($250 million) after lenders threatened to pull out of a proposed rescue deal, putting the 178-year-old company at risk of collapse.
The crisis threatens to wreck the holiday plans of thousands of Brits who may be left stranded in destinations around Europe and beyond.
Reports say there are currently 600,000 Thomas Cook customers abroad - of which around 150,000 are British.
A further 9,000 British jobs potentially could be lost and 21,000 worldwide.
Have you been warned about your holiday plans being affected? Email emma.munbodh@mirror.co.uk
Those on a package holiday are ATOL-protected, which means if the worst does happen, then the Civil Aviation Authority would be ordered by the Department for Transport to launch a major repatriation operation to fly them home.
The operation would be the biggest the biggest peacetime repatriation of British citizens at an estimated cost of £600m.
A source told the Sun: "Around 20,000 staff worldwide will lose their jobs and it will have a knock on effect to travel agents worldwide as cruises will also be affected as they may also lose their licence.
"Several thousand passengers on cruises may also have holidays cut short, stopped part way through holidays and needing assistance in returning."
The company was locked in talks with "multiple" potential investors, including the government to provide the additional £200m pounds, the Financial Times reported.
The last-minute demand for the additional funding puts the £900m recapitalisation plan agreed by the company with its Chinese shareholder Fosun last month at risk, the company had earlier said on Friday.
Thomas Cook has not yet publicly commented on the reports
