Monarch Airlines

[lbaspotter]

hi all
have monarch axed the remainder of there larnaca winter flights??
sm1

Yeah it would seem so as monarch website shows the last flight to Larnaca out off Leeds is operating on Wednesday, January 29th. Good news is the service then restarts 2x weekly around March 30th. Wouldn't surprise me to find pax been put onto flights from Manchester now as it's an old trick that Thomson's use to do..

So that's now 3 routes Munich, Grenoble and Cyprus that Monarch seem to have struggled with out of Leeds over the winter period. What are they doing wrong compared to Ryanair and Jet2?

 

[Tarn Spotter]

"What are they doing wrong" Dont think offering poor service for 40 years helps, I and others of my age were let down for 20 years a further 20 years on still well down the table on delays, admitting 12 months ago you have the wrong business plan, does not help.

 

[SNOWMAN]

hi lbaspotter
Cyprus is not a very good winter destination with a lot of the hotels and bars closing down for refurbs etc,why monarch wont try the likes of Benidorm and Malaga where there is a good trade in hotel/apartments/and seat only in winter & summer is beyond me. :s_cool
regards
sm1

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Not sure malaga a good option, since the Spanish government cut back the support for Spanish pensioners to have a subsidised holiday many hotels and businesses now close for a winters break in the CDS. WE have stopped going for our February break and putting it back to March and we use Spanish bars, even these, however, are taking this period to have a well earned break.
Jet2 have reduced the winter schedule to APG over the last few years and cancelled the March Wednesday flights planned originally for 2014.
I am sure if there was any uncovered destinations for winter, other airlines, established at LBA before Monarch moved to LBA.
I think the CEO of Monarch telling us a year ago that he would become a low cost airline and would no longer relie on the cosmos holiday etc passengers to fill his seats, I worry that LBA cannot support his new business plan, which is the worry, and as he has taken to shouting from the roof tops via our local papers how well it is going, fear even more.
Overall Monarch carried 100,000 fewer passengers in 2013 against the previous year, not good figures when you think LBA opened in December 2012.

 

[Aviador]

Monarch have had some shocking figures on LCA so it's no wonder it's canned until the spring. It is a surprise mind you as Aspro managed to serve LCA many years ago during the winter months and I'm sure they operated for more than one season which would suggest it did reasonably well, perhaps somebody can confirm this?

 

[SNOWMAN]

hi aviador
aspro that brings back some memories,we went to Cyprus with them the first year they started out of lba but it was in june not winter the plane was full,737-300 not a 757 and no fuel stops either way I bet the tanks were nearly empty.
regards
sm1 :s_cool

 

[lbaspotter]

Like you say Aviador I'm also sure Aspro Holidays did do winter flights to Cyprus from Leeds as I seem to remember the Cyprus Airways doing the flights for them. Also think Airtours Holidays have tried it in the winter...

 

[752]

Cyprus is definitely not a winter destination. I think if Monarch operated TFS, ACE, FUE & LPA throughout winter, they would be onto a much more of a winner. What about SSH? could the A320SL make it from LBA? that's a perfect winter destination for them. I think a high frequent ALC would work very well for Monarch.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

No surprise that Monarch have struggled with LCA out of LBA. Whilst it is a nice destination, and probably okay year round, its more a VFR route during the winter period and i would say only the established markets of LGW, MAN and BHX can make it work.

ZB seems to be confused what they are going for. In one year its inclusive tour operators, the next its the seat only low cost markets on high destiny routes, the following back to the first attempt. Personally i think they are trying to do a Jet2 and build a vertically integrated holiday division where the airline is filled with a proportion of seats from this business. But then that is what i have interpreted from the data over the last few months of research. Out of Leeds, they have tried and failed with certain winter routes (i am by no way saying that they are unsuccessful i personally think they've done a brilliant job in the summer months). I personally do feel that Alicante would be a good safe winter destination that they could operate but then there has to be a reason they don't operate it. Perhaps Ryanair/Jet2 who are on the route? Who knows?

The Canaries. Another area where Jet2 are stronger (through my own research) then Monarch especially in the weaker markets (LBA, EMA) in the weakest month. I could easily see LPA, FUE, TFS and ACE all working within the winter months out of LBA, with maybe a month or 5 weeks off during the weakest part of the winter month for the weakest two markets of LPA and FUE. As for SSH working, yes it could work with a A320SL(WL) however i think that Tui couldn't make it work i very much doubt Monarch could despite being a strong market. Also remember MAN is a stronger market, with more established markets then LBA, and therefore Manchesters Sharm market is somewhat far bigger than LBA'S.

Another area Monarch are unsure off, "testing" the water so to speak is Ski flights. They don't seem to grow, and go for it if you understand what i mean. They haven't got CMF (Chamerby) out of any airports somewhere i think should be operated, NO GVA, lacking on any italian ski links, Innsbruck yes, and the german market is just establishing its self. Out of interesting note, no ski flights are bookable or showing on the timetable for next summer season.

I've written a well researched report on Mr Meeson acquiring Monarch. Personally the more i wrote about it the better it would be merging the airlines together. Monarch seem lost, Jet2 seem to know what they are doing. Monarch are less daring than Jet2, however Jet2 are more conservative in the winter months then the summer. I may post this report on here for you guys to look at

 

[Bigman]

Could the size of aircraft used be an issue? I would have thought that an A320 would be a bit of an overkill for routes like Munich or Rome.

 

[lbaspotter]

Could the size of aircraft used be an issue? I would have thought that an A320 would be a bit of an overkill for routes like Munich or Rome.

As you say Bigman that's a big problem that Monarch have seen as they don't have any smaller aircraft than the A320. I think you'll agree when I say BMI British Midland had the same problem when they got rid of the Fokker 70/100 fleet with nothing inbetween the Airbus A319 and the Embrear 145.

I'm hopeful the rumours are true that Monarch may order some smaller C-series aircraft along with more Airbus A320's when they get around to officially announceing their fleet renewal.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Nicholas1992: Not sure what would be the point of a Jet2/Monarch tieup.
Cosmos Holidays started in 1961 and sold 815,000 holidays, Jet2 holidays started in 2009 and sold 1.3 million in 2012/2013 accounts period, doubling in the last two years. Monarch Airways winter is 30% of their overall business, Jet2 winter business represents 31% of revenue, including freight and that is in 10 years compared to the 45 years Monarch has been in operation.
One company is powering forward and the other is struggling.
Last accounts I have seen are to October 2012 when they posted a loss of 37 million and owed 84 million to there owners the mantegazza family.
On the 7th November they sold two aircraft for 32 million to pay back some of these debts to the family resulting in a book loss of 11 million, what will this do to the results to October 2013.
Monarch Engineering could be floated off as it is making profit at at the moment. supporting the airline, why would Jet2 want an airline that is losing money handover foot you might as well wait for the Mantegazza family to w3alk away and pick up the pieces.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Without detracting from the subject at hand, i've put this report (all be it edited) somewhere else within the forum. But just to answer a question you asked,

Why would Jet2/Mr Meeson allow EZY and the likes to swallow up LGW slots only getting a handful when they could take full advantage of a takeover and aggressively expand at LGW? Anyway its in another section as i don't want to detract from the subject at hand.

 

[imagineif]

The C Series is now delayed again - not due in service until late 2015 now

 

[Ray Finkle]

Copied from the BHX thread.

An article saying Monarch are planning to fly to Agadir from BHX and Leeds. There's no quotes from any Monarch officials so we'll see what happens but still interesting.

Translated by Google as the article is in French.

A memorandum of understanding was signed at the World Trade Market (WTM) by the Director General of the Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT) Abderrafie Zouiten and Director of Monarch Travel Group, Katy Sayburn.

This MOU provides for the establishment of four flights per week on Agadir, two from the London-Gatwick Airport and two other Manchester, a capacity of approximately 20,000 seats for the summer season 2014 .

These new routes will be operational from 02 May 2014. The British group has also expanded the scope of its activities in Morocco and plans to launch other routes linking the cities of Agadir Saidia and Birmingham and Leeds in the north-west of England.

Full article (in French): http://www.medias24.com/Indiscretions/5 ... tagne.html

 

[Aviador]

I read something on another forum suggesting Monarch flights were going to be established between Moroccan, Leeds and Birmingham so there must be some truth of it.

 

[LBA787]

Are we talking about flights starting this summer? If so it's a bit late isn't it....

Winter flights are also a possibility with North Africa as it's warm all year.

Fingers crossed...

:crazy:

 

[lbaspotter]

Are we talking about flights starting this summer? If so it's a bit late isn't it....:crazy:

Flights to Agadir, two from the London-Gatwick and 2 from Manchester were announced earlier this winter season to start from May 2014 think it was late November or early December 2013 this happened. It looks like Monarch are looking at maybe starting Leeds and Birmingham flights either later this year for the winter 2014/15 season or from from the start of summer 2015 season.

 

[Hull City Fan]

As part of Ant & Decs Saturday Night Takeaway, Saturday Night Takeaway & Monarch Airlines are giving the great British public the chance to win flights from Leeds Bradford Airport to Sanford International Airport. The flight which will be operated on a Monarch Airlines B757 aircraft will depart on 5 April 2014 and return on 11 April 2014.

Nice little one off service there from Monarch. Wonder if it has anything to do with Morrisons (who are based in Bradford) being the main sponsor of the show that the flight is being operated from LBA and not MAN/LGW?. Anyway, here's to many more 'one offs' like this from Monarch in the future!.

Ps. All you have to do to enter, is answer the following question:
Q: Which of these is the hottest curry?
A) Tikka B) Korma C) Vindaloo
Full t&c's on the itv website!

 

[lbia]

I've not been on here for ages, but sounds like something fun and should give a good bit of Marketing.

How sure are we that a 757 will be flying this? As far as a I know, Monarch's 757's are not ETOPS certified and none have winglets - I'm not sure what the planned passenger load for these flights will be but anything past 50% full and that Aircraft will have to make multiple stops to reach Florida.

I hope they use an A330 instead!