Thomas Cook has confirmed it will cut further costs of £50 million and raise up to £150 million through the disposal of non core businesses as part of a wide-ranging strategy to return the tour operator to health. It comes as the tour operator outlines plans to focus its resources on online sales as it seeks to return to profitability.

With the UK suffering an even worse winter than usual, plagued by record levels of snow, ice and rain, it’s not difficult to see why most of us are turning our thoughts to holidays in the sun - with 4.5 million searches on http://www.thomascook.com between Christmas and New Year alone.

As part of its on-going transformation, Thomas Cook Group has announced an important step in the development of its strategy for the group’s airlines – the proposal of a new structure for its airlines in the UK, Germany and Belgium. From March 1st 2013, Condor – the Thomas Cook airline brand in Germany, Thomas Cook Airlines UK and Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium will come together as one airline segment within the Group, sharing knowledge and skills to meet the ever-changing needs of customers as well as improved efficiencies.

Struggling tour operator Thomas Cook has launched a new TV advertising campaign as it seeks to revive its fortunes. Featuring a tongue-in-cheek journey home from holiday, the brand will reemploy its famous tag line, ‘Don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it’.

Thomas Cook has reported pre-tax losses of £485.3 million for the year to September 30th, up from £398.2 million the previous year. The widening annual losses are partially due to reduced capacity and higher fuel costs.

Thomas Cook has expanded the role of Peter Fankhauser to include control of its UK operations as part of a major management reshuffle. Fankhauser is presently responsible for the German-speaking continental divisions of the company and will now take responsibility for the UK & Ireland business.