Thomas Cook to shut 200 travel agencies in the UK

Thomas Cook Group plc, Europe's largest tour operator and UK's second largest foreign exchange group, will close about 200 of its travel agencies and reduce its aircraft fleet by six planes as part of a massive overhaul of its UK operations.

The Sunday Times today reported, without citing sources, that the soon to be announced closures will include the 75 indicated earlier this year when Thomas Cook merged with Co-Operative Travel. (See: Thomas Cook, Co-operative Travel tie-up creates UK's largest travel agency)

The newspaper also said that the 200 closures will 'clear the decks' for an incoming chief executive following Manny Fontenla-Novoa's resignation in August.

Manny Fontenla-Novoa, who had led Thomas Cook since 2007, had resigned in August 2011 after three profit warnings in a year amid weak demand for travel triggered an 80 per cent decline in its share price.

The closure will mean 1,000 job losses and leave Thomas with about 1,100 high street stores across the UK.

Thomas Cook had already announced that it will reduce its current fleet of 41 aircraft by six and also review its call centre rostering to improve efficiency.