Thomas Cook bosses have refuted suggestions that chief executive Harriet Green was pushed out following her unexpected departure from the travel giant today.
New chief executive Peter Fankhauser, who was primed as Green’s successor having been appointed chief operating officer, took on the chief executive’s role with immediate effect.
Speaking to the international trade media this afternoon Cook chairman Frank Meysman said the transformation plan was ahead of track and now was the right time to change chief executive.
“Harriet Green felt her contribution was probably on the maximum level at this point in time. We felt this was the right thing to do now than in a year’s time,” he said.
Green has never suggested she was in the Cook role for the long-term, but that her job was to turn the company’s fortunes around.
Meysman said the firm always planned to make the change at the start of a new trading year and he denied that there was disagreement at board level over her departure.
He said the decision was unanimous among both executive and non-executives on the board of Thomas Cook.
“The truth is that a process has been building over the last year after we promoted Peter to chief operating officer.
“In that time it was clear to anybody inside the company and hopefully to people on the outside that Peter was going to be the most likely successor.
“It was a matter of when. We had a choice to do it right now or to wait until 12 months from now.
“We are doing more things faster than before and what was initially planned to take three years has taken two to tow-and-half years.
“Therefore this was the right time to move from one top executive to another top executive.”
Fankhauser said he was honoured to be taking over the reins. “We have achieved a lot over the last two years and now it’s all about execution and delivery.”
And he said he would bring his own “authentic” style to the role. “There is no change to the strategy and execution. Everyone has his own style.”
Meysman said Cook now has an experienced senior executive team in place with a deep understanding of the travel sector to take Green’s reforms forward.
Fankhauser will be supported by chief financial officer Peter Healy and chief air travel officer Christoph Debus.
Meysman said that Cook wanted to be transparent with its numbers and be open about areas that are challenging as well as areas where it is doing well.