Thomas Cook axes 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.

Neilsen, Club 18-30, Flexibletrips, Style and Sunworld Holidays Ireland will remain in Thomas Cook’s specialist division.

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.

A recruitment freeze has been implemented until the end of the year, unless for “highly specialised positions.”

Fontenla Novoa said: “Making roles redundant is always a difficult process, especially on the back of such a successful year. But as a management team we will not shy away from making challenging decisions for the future development of the company.”

Explaining the rationale behind the move, he said: “By creating a combined holidays division we can draw on the strengths of both businesses, take full advantage of the economies of scale and achieve a greater degree of back office efficiency, without compromising the high levels of service we offer our customers.

“Customers have always viewed the Thomas Cook mass market and Signature business as a single entity so the move will also simplify the offering for customers and travel agent alike.”

Signature is likely to lose its dedicated sales team, with one merged holidays team responsible for all brands.

In a further shake-up, its sales centres have also been reorganised 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%.