THOMAS Cook was unlikely to survive changing travel habits, major debt and Brexit, an expert says.

Chief executive Peter Fankhauser apologised yesterday, saying he was “distressed” by the company’s fall after “intense negotiations” aimed at saving the business.

Brexit has been cited as one of the factors that caused the crash.

However, The Telegraph reported that 12 high-flyers at Thomas Cook earned around £20 million over five years from 2014 as the company’s debt grew to £1.7 billion.

Commenting, Professor John Lennon, director of the Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism at Glasgow Caledonian University, said: “This is a major failure in the travel sector. It will leave the competitive space in package holidays clear for TUI.

“The environment in which Thomas Cook operated radically changed with the advent of budget air travel, online travel services and easy access to private accommodation through online platforms like Airbnb.

“The merger with Airtours and MyTravel Group left Thomas Cook with a major debt burden of £1.7bn that became harder and harder to service.

“Combined with increased competition and consumer uncertainty, weaker sterling as a result of Brexit and increasingly nervous lending organisations, it left limited possibilities for an alternative outcome.”

The 2007 MyTravel merger eventually led to a £1.1bn loss when bosses took the decision to write down its value in May this year.

But they said there was “little doubt” that Brexit had deterred some from making holiday plans.

The company hoped to secure a rescue deal led by Fosun, its largest shareholder, but this failed when creditor banks including the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) demanded an additional £200m. It led a group of banks to deliver an emergency loan to Thomas Cook eight years ago.

It is understood that travel bosses approached the UK Government for £250m, but Westminster said bailing out the business would have hit the public purse too hard.

Drew Hendry MP, the SNP’s business spokesperson at Westminster, said the suspension of that house would make it harder to scrutinise that decision and find out what, if anything, could have been done to avoid the company’s end – and what will be done to help those affected. He stated: “The UK Government will need to explain their actions through the course of this painful process – including what they knew about the collapse of Thomas Cook and what they could have done to step in and prevent it.

“Thomas Cook had previously warned that the UK Government’s Brexit obsession was causing them problems and it is clear that it has accelerated the difficulties.

“In any normal period, the government would be expected to come before parliament to set out to MPs what actions it will be taking and the support being offered. However, the UK Government has shamefully shut down parliament.”