Thomas Cook collapsed owing creditors £9 billion

Cook’s total liabilities extend to £8.99 billion, with £885 million owed to trade creditors alone.

This includes £393 million from Cook’s tour operator and £448 million from its airline. Customers are owed £585 million and employees a further £45 million.

The bulk of the liabilities, though, rest in £5.7 billion debts arising from other group companies. An additional £1.775 billion is owed to banks and other lenders.

The figure eclipses the £176 million to £244 million that could be clawed back from the sale of Cook’s assets.

These include Cook’s high street retail estate, which Hays Travel picked up for £6 million; the operator’s slots at various UK airports, understood to have raised in the region of £36 million to date; and Cook’s intellectual property rights and brand, sold to Chinese travel giant Fosun for a reported £11 million.

Other potential saleable assets include Cook’s call centre, Peterborough HQ and aspects of its operations in Scandinavia and central Europe.

Cook’s special managers have also disposed of various subsidiary and joint venture businesses, and collected cash and currency from the firm’s retail stores.

They are continuing to pursue the sale of other assets including aircraft and engineering stock.

The £585 million owed to customers, the report stresses, does not include the Civil Aviation Authority’s claim.