Thomas Cook has announced that Chris Mottershead will take back the leadership of the business in the United Kingdom “for the time being”.

Mottershead brings detailed, experienced knowledge of the UK tour operator and is well placed to execute Thomas Cook’s strategy.

This includes increasing the share of own-brand hotels on offer to UK customers as well as the transformation work that is currently underway.

Mottershead joined Thomas Cook from Tui Group in 2015 and took the role of chief of product and operations in April this year.

He will continue in that role in addition to running the UK business .

The move comes as Ingo Burmester, who was appointed in 2017, returns to Europe for what Thomas Cook brands “personal reasons”.

He will be joining DER Touristik based in Germany, in May, allowing him to be closer to his family.

Ingo joined Thomas Cook in early 2017, holding two key roles, most recently re-locating to the UK as chief of source Market.

In addition to the UK role, Mottershead will continue with his role as chief of product and operations.

His appointment comes at a precarious time for Thomas Cook, with the company having seen its share price slide as low as 22 pence per share this week, before recovering slightly.

After a handover with Burmester, Mottershead will lead the UK management team with immediate effect.

Mottershead will work alongside Anth Mooney who continues to report to chief executive Peter Fankhauser and remains focused on improving the performance of our retail channel and financial services products as chief of UK retail and money.

Fankhauser said: “I want to thank Ingo for his contribution to Thomas Cook.

“Given the critical importance of turning around the performance of the UK business I have decided to hand back the leadership of the UK source market to Chris Mottershead for the time being.

“I am confident that his experience in running a British holiday company, along with Anth’s absolute focus on our retail and money business, will help to accelerate the UK’s return to profitable growth.”