Thomas Cook: These are the numbers behind the UK's largest peacetime repatriation

Today, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it has launched Britain's largest peacetime repatriation to bring home stranded Thomas Cook passengers.

Here are some of the key numbers involved in the operation:

- All of the travel company's flights have been cancelled - that means the 105 aircraft it operates, according to its website, have been grounded.

- There are 600,000 Thomas Cook travellers who have been left stuck at 51 destinations in 17 countries

Thomas Cook collapse leaves thousands of tourists stranded

- More than 150,000 of those are Britons.

- The airlift is almost twice the size of the repatriation effort required when Monarch went bust in October 2017.

- In that instance, the CAA put on 567 flights which brought almost 84,000 passengers back to the UK.

- The final cost of the Monarch operation to taxpayers was about £50 million. The Department for Transport would not put a firm figure on how much it would cost this time around but it is understood it could top £100 million.

- Dozens of charter planes have been brought in from as far afield as Malaysia to assist with the mass airlift.

- Only holidaymakers with return flights booked within the next two weeks, between Monday and Sunday October 6, will qualify for a free flight home, as close as possible to their original return date.

- On Monday September 30, one week into the repatriation process, the CAA will launch a service which will seek to process all refunds within 60 days of full information being received. Further details will be given at thomascook.caa.co.uk.