Troubled British travel firm, Thomas Cook, which is the oldest travel company in the world, has gained a new lease of life as a Polish travel company has purchased the operations from Chinese travel company Fosun Group in global markets excluding China. 

Thomas Cook India is a separate business entity and neither the company nor its operations and brand have been impacted by the transaction. Thomas Cook India owns the brand in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

According to a press statement by ESky Group, a Polish travel firm that is the owner of a leading travel platform in Central and Eastern Europe, it has bought Thomas Cook from the Fosun Tourism Group, except its business in China, for an undisclosed sum.

The statement adds that the deal will provide Thomas Cook with access to ESky’s flight inventory and will support its continued growth, said ESky.

“At the same time, this step will pave the way for ESky to enter one of the most developed markets in Western Europe and strengthen its position,” added the statement from ESky.

The Thomas Cook brand was bought by Fosun Tourism Group following the British firm’s collapse in 2019. It was at that time that Canadian investment firm, Fairfax Financial, which is owned by Prem Watsa, a Canadian billionaire of Indian origin, had purchased the rights for Thomas Cook’s operations in India and its brand in the markets of India, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

Meanwhile, Fosun relaunched Thomas Cook as an online travel agency in September 2020.

Fosun Tourism Group also owns brands such as Club Med, which operates about 70 resorts.

The ESky Group was founded in 2004 and now its ESky and EDestinos brands operate in more than 50 countries across Europe, the Americas and Africa, offering more than 550 airlines and 1.3 million hotels.

Its 2023 profits were more than PLN 90.2 million (USD 23 million), an increase of 42 pc year-on-year and nearly three times the level of 2019.

Łukasz Habaj

“The synergy of Thomas Cook’s brand heritage with our technology will drive Thomas Cook’s growth and allow us to strengthen eSky’s position in Western Europe. This acquisition is part of our strategy to diversify from just selling flights to offering package holidays across our existing markets in Europe and Latin America as well as expand further into Western Europe,” says Łukasz Habaj, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, ESky Group.

The company is based in Katowice, Poland, and has more than 800 employees, including an in-house development team of more than 190 people.

Since 2022, the ESky Group has been part-owned by listed private equity company MCI, a digital and climatech fund in Central and Eastern Europe. MCI previously also invested in taxi firm Gett and payments company iZettle.

Michał Górecki

“Acquisition of Thomas Cook by eSky aligns with the company’s strategy to grow dynamic packages segment and expand globally. This move will enhance eSky’s position and could boost eSky’s packages sales beyond EUR 233 million next year, sustaining a three-digit growth rate,” says Michał Górecki, senior investment partner at MCI Capital.

In recent years ESky has invested in city break and holiday packages as part of a business transformation from a predominantly flight platform into a virtual tour operator one.

Alan French

As part of the deal, Thomas Cook, led by chief executive Alan French, will remain with the business. The company will continue to operate under the Thomas Cook name.

“The completion of this transaction will inject significant funding into our business as we rebuild the brand and accelerate the growth of this company. By combining the strength of our dynamic packaging technology and holiday know-how with the flight inventory, performance marketing and technical strength of eSky’s team, we are confident we will create a formidable European travel business,” says French.