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New York (CNN Business) - As a culmination of a difficult year, 178-year-old British tour operator Thomas Cook collapsed Sunday night, leaving thousands of travelers stranded.
The company said in a statement that its board "concluded that it had no choice but to take measures to enter into mandatory liquidation with immediate effect."
"A request was submitted to the Superior Court for a mandatory liquidation of the Company before opening the business today and an order has been granted to designate the Official Recipient as the liquidator of the Company," he said in the statement.
Thomas Cook counters at Gatwick Airport in London.
Peter Fankhauser, executive director of Thomas Cook, apologized to customers, employees, suppliers and partners.
"This represents a profoundly sad day for the company that pioneered the combined vacation and made the trip of millions of people around the world possible," said Fankhauser.
The collapse of an iconic UK company is having a domino effect in Asia. Shares of the Chinese company Fosun Tourism fell more than 5% in operations on Monday morning in Hong Kong.
The parent company of Fosun Tourism, Fosun International, is one of the largest conglomerates in China. It owns the all-inclusive vacation company Club Med. The billionaire founder of the company Guo Guangchang is Thomas Cook's largest shareholder, according to data provider Refinitiv.
"Fosun is disappointed that Thomas Cook Group has not been able to find a viable solution" for its financial problems, the company said in a statement. "We extend our deepest solidarity to all those affected by this result," he added.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the United Kingdom tweeted on Sunday that all Thomas Cook reservations have been canceled.
The measure launched the largest-scale repatriation operation in peacetime in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing the government's operation after the collapse of Monarch Airlines in 2017.
In a statement, the aviation authority said there are "more than 150,000 Thomas Cook clients abroad, almost double those who were repatriated after Monarch's failure." He said the government had asked him to launch a repatriation program, which would return Thomas Cook's clients to the United Kingdom, between September 23 and October 6.
"Due to the unprecedented number of UK customers currently abroad who are affected by the situation, the Civil Aviation Authority has secured a fleet of planes from around the world to bring passengers back to the UK," he said.
The aviation authority launched a website where customers can find details about repatriation flights.
"Customers who are currently abroad should not travel to the airport until their flight back to the UK has been confirmed on the designated website," he said.
Depending on where the travelers are located, return flights will be on flights operated by the aviation authority or on existing flights with other airlines, according to Thomas Cook.
For Thomas Cook travelers abroad with vacation packages protected by the Air Travel Organizer License (ATOL), the aviation authority said it will handle hotel bills.
ATOL is a UK financial protection program that protects most vacations in air packages sold by UK travel companies.
"While making arrangements, do not make any payments to your hotel unless the CAA team tells you otherwise," said the aviation authority. "If the accommodation provider does not accept our guarantee, we may have to transfer it to another hotel for the duration of your stay."
Travelers on ATOL protected vacations should have received an ATOL Certificate by email or by mail.
Thomas Cook customers who only booked hotel stays will not be rescued by the aviation authority. ATOL protection only applies to hotels when they are booked as part of a vacation package with flight included.
Thomas Cook had been struggling over the weekend to avoid liquidation after the Royal Bank of Scotland and other banks demanded that Thomas Cook Group PLC find 200 million pounds (250 million dollars) in funds for this week.
Grant Shapps, the UK secretary of state for transportation, said in a statement that the government and the CAA are "working 24 hours" to help people affected by the collapse.
"Our contingency planning has helped to get planes from all over the world, some from as far away as Malaysia, and we have put hundreds of people in call centers and airports," he said. “But the task is enormous, the greatest repatriation in peacetime in the history of the United Kingdom. Therefore, there are likely to be problems and delays. Please try to be understanding with the staff that is trying to help in what is probably a very difficult time for them too. ”
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab suggested on Sunday while talking with Andrew Marr of the BBC that the government was unlikely to rescue Thomas Cook, saying that the ministers would not "systematically intervene" to save business unless there would be a "strategic national interest".
Raab said, however, that the British government had a plan to take home the 160,000 travelers from the United Kingdom possibly stranded by the collapse of Thomas Cook. Thomas Cook confirmed on Friday to CNN that it currently has 600,000 vacation clients, including 160,000 in the United Kingdom.
"We have all contingency planning to make sure no one is stranded," Raab said. "I don't want to go into details because it depends on the nature of the people, whether they have booked a package or simply paid for the flights."
The plan, called Operation Matterhorn, would cost the UK government about $ 750 million, the Civil Aviation Authority confirmed to CNN. Some planes are already moving to holiday destinations as part of this operation, so British tourists can be taken home on Monday if Thomas Cook sinks, a BBC report said.
This situation occurs after a tumultuous year for Thomas Cook. Since May 2018, the company's shares have fallen by more than 96% amid the uncertainty of brexit and intense competition in the tourism sector.
Sherisse Pham contributed to this report