Troubled travel firm Thomas Cook has collapsed after last-minute negotiations attempting to save the holiday firm failed.
It puts 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, including 9,000 in the UK.
The firm's collapse also triggers the biggest ever peacetime repatriation aimed at bringing UK holidaymakers home.
Operation Matterhorn will aim to bring home around 150,000 British people currently on holiday with the company.
Empty aircraft had already started to be flown overseas yesterday, ready to bring tourists home today.
READ MORE: Action pledge as Thomas Cook collapse leaves 150,000 British holidaymakers stranded
Thomas Cook Group, including the UK tour operator and airline, has ceased trading with immediate effect.
— UK Civil Aviation Authority (@UK_CAA) September 23, 2019
All #ThomasCook bookings, including flights and holidays, have now been cancelled.
Visit: https://t.co/g4G2b6RlHc pic.twitter.com/BxJMv5Yaw1
Thomas Cook previously secured a £900m rescue deal led by its largest shareholder Chinese firm Fosun in August but was plunged into further jeopardy when the firm's lenders demanded a further £200m in contingency funding.
The firm asked the UK Government for financial aid but Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the government did not "systematically step in" when businesses went under unless there was "a good strategic national interest".
READ MORE: Thomas Cook: Everything you need to know as travel firm collapses
Customers on a package holiday have Atol protection - a fund paid for through industry levies - which will cover the cost of their holiday and repatriation.
Anyone who has a holiday booked in the future will also be refunded by the scheme.
When Monarch Airlines collapsed in 2017, the government organised to bring home all the stranded passengers, whether they were covered by Atol or not.
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