Thomas Cook Slashes 325 Jobs
Thomas Cook is to axe 325 jobs in a move it hopes will save £20 million per year.
It follows the creation of a new Holidays division and restructure of its sales department.
The operator said the shake-up and job losses, which come after three years of healthy profit, were necessary to “sustain profitability and business efficiencies.”
The new holiday division will comprise the mass market brands Thomas Cook, JMC and Sunset along with scheduled-air tour operation Signature and associated brands Latitude and Tours.
Among the departures will be Signature managing director Joanna Edmunds while sales and marketing director Manuel Mascarenhas will move to the dot com division. The bulk of the job cuts follow an “overlap of functions” caused by the creation of the holidays division, the operator said.
Chief executive Manny Fontenla Novoa stressed every effort would be made to find alternative roles for staff made redundant. A 90-day consultation is underway although the company refused to be drawn on how many are likely to be retained.
Signature is likely to lose its dedicated sales team, with one merged holidays team responsible for all brands. In a further shakeup, its sales centers have also been reorganized with the closure of the customer held desk in Bradford and expanded desks in Peterborough and Falkirk.
The Signature call centre in Peterborough and Bradford-based Agent Services team will provide support services for the new holidays division. Meanwhile, Fontenla Novoa said current trading remains “uncertain” with sales down around 6%.
