Former Hilton group chief executive Sir David Michels is being linked with the chairmanship of Thomas Cook.
Michels, deputy chairman of Marks & Spencer and a board member at easyJet, is reported to be one of two candidates in the frame.
Cook declined to comment on the Sky News report today that Michels had been approached to replace current chairman Michael Beckett, who is due to step down at its annual meeting next February.
Michels, seen as one of the country’s most experienced boardroom figures, is also due to leave easyJet at the end of the year.
He is being liked with Cook after Europe’s second largest tour operating group issued the latest in a series of profit warnings which resulted in the ousting of chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa last week.
One large shareholder in the travel group told Sky that Michels would bring “enough grit and guile to turn the company around”.