Monarch Airlines

[Kevin Farnell]

I flew to Gerona on a Monarch 720B in '78 from the old terminal.

Classic

Kevin

 

[Ray Finkle]

Where was that from?

I believe that we flew from Luton, I had only just turned 6 at the time though.

 

[JF57]

A quote on another web site (Head for Points) at 05:40 today:-

The CAA had leased aircraft and crew from United (amongst other airlines) to cover I’m case Monarch did collapse. Those crew positioned into the airport I work at have now been sent home (yesterday morning) which would indicate that the CAA no longer feels there’s a danger of Monarch collapsing.

We can but hope this is the case

 

[Glenn Eldridge]

A quote on another web site (Head for Points) at 05:40 today:-

The CAA had leased aircraft and crew from United (amongst other airlines) to cover I’m case Monarch did collapse. Those crew positioned into the airport I work at have now been sent home (yesterday morning) which would indicate that the CAA no longer feels there’s a danger of Monarch collapsing.

We can but hope this is the case

Ive heard that more crew arrived this morning on UA81 they upgraded the usual 752 to 764 to accomodate the staff

 

[JF57]

Ive heard that more crew arrived this morning on UA81 they upgraded the usual 752 to 764 to accomodate the staff

It appears that there are various sides to the story. I suppose it will be resolved in the next day or so as Monarch need to get their licence renewed by the end of the month. I presume either they will or they won't.

 

[nwoody2001]

Ive heard that more crew arrived this morning on UA81 they upgraded the usual 752 to 764 to accomodate the staff

I heard this was to take the aircrews back home that had been kept in hotels in the U.K for the last week on alert!

 

[JF57]

I heard this was to take the aircrews back home that had been kept in hotels in the U.K for the last week on alert!

So it appears we have two votes for reduction of the CAA backup and one for strengthening of the backup. Any more contributions???

 

[User001]

The aircrews that were here at the start of the week positioned home yesterday, but today, another 28 crew positioned in on the UA80 EWR-MAN.

 

[JF57]

The aircrews that were here at the start of the week positioned home yesterday, but today, another 28 crew positioned in on the UA80 EWR-MAN.

It appears then that the Monarch issue may go to the wire and not be resolved (one way or the other) until the month end deadline tomorrow. Either someone is playing brinkmanship with the purse strings (Grey Bull or HNA?) or there is little hope of a satisfactory resolution.

As we are booked on a couple of flights with Monarch in October we have a keen interest in a successful outcome as I suspect a lot of other people do.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I really hoped that we'd hear some good news today.

Fingers firmly crossed for tomorrow.

 

[hay677]

Some positive statements taken from a longer article published a few days ago: http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/2016...y-million-s-within-days-to-avoid-cash-crunch/

"Monarch Airline’s majority shareholder, Greybull Capital, is preparing to offer the short-haul carrier another multi-million pound lifeline after problems from the post-Brexit sterling plunge, on holiday demand.

“Monarch is trading well and is expected to achieve an EBITDA of over £40m at the end of this financial year (October 2016). This is despite a difficult period for the holiday industry due to terrorist incidents, Brexit and the resulting devaluation of sterling."

“To weather tougher market conditions and to fund its ongoing growth, Monarch expects to announce a significant investment from its stakeholders in the coming days.”

It is understood this injection of money will be enough to satisfy CAA requirements."

 

[JENNYJET]

My first ever flight was with Monarch on a 1-11 down to Girona, 1981 I think it was. Have only ever had great flights with them ever since.

Monarch will pull through, this time, but I hope that a sale is close. Their employees don't deserve to go through this again.



I'm flying Thomson next summer

My 1st was a BA 1-11 from Manchester to Belfast Aldergrove, not long after I left School, The Four Dwellings at Quinton.

I am so sorry Sir Raymond, the Thomson = ITV reference was simply an illustrative description on my take upon those low cost operations at BHX. Have always considered Monarch as the Royalty of low cost but even said and done, what other low cost operated DC-10 and more recently A330?

I wish your flight with Thomson to be a good one as my only flights with Thomson were excellent and remain my only experience of the B757.

 

[jfy1999]

All the following has been gathered from other forums (apologies to those who know it already)

Monarch Holidays is a separate asset for the Monarch Holdings group than Monarch Airlines. Monarch Holidays has been loss-making recently while Monarch Airlines has still posted a £40m profit. So if the ATOL licence is lost, the airline could technically still go on operating without the package holiday arm of the group. 15% of people using Monarch Airlines booked a package deal with Monarch Holidays, while the remainder booked the flight only.

On the Monarch Group website homepage, there is a drop-down list labelled "Our Businesses" which used to have three options: Monarch Airlines, MAEL, and Monarch Holidays. Monarch Holidays has disappeared from the list in the last week. Coincidence?

Looks to me like this could be the final phase of their transition from a tour operator to a pure LCC, as they have been running a hybrid operation in recent times. Of course this is only my opinion, maybe others know something more?

 

[JF57]

All the following has been gathered from other forums (apologies to those who know it already)

Monarch Holidays is a separate asset for the Monarch Holdings group than Monarch Airlines. Monarch Holidays has been loss-making recently while Monarch Airlines has still posted a £40m profit. So if the ATOL licence is lost, the airline could technically still go on operating without the package holiday arm of the group. 15% of people using Monarch Airlines booked a package deal with Monarch Holidays, while the remainder booked the flight only.

On the Monarch Group website homepage, there is a drop-down list labelled "Our Businesses" which used to have three options: Monarch Airlines, MAEL, and Monarch Holidays. Monarch Holidays has disappeared from the list in the last week. Coincidence?

Looks to me like this could be the final phase of their transition from a tour operator to a pure LCC, as they have been running a hybrid operation in recent times. Of course this is only my opinion, maybe others know something more?

Interesting. Monarch Holidays used to be Cosmos until recently I think.

Monarch as an airline still needs to meet CAA criteria to get cover from them for potential airline failure so still some convincing to do even if the holiday side goes to the wall.

 

[JF57]

Just seen this from the Guardian published 52 minutes ago:-

"Monarch Airlines is in talks with aviation authorities to gain time as it seeks to pull together a multimillion-pound cash injection before its licence to fly expires at midnight on Friday.

Britain’s oldest surviving airline brand may seek a temporary extension to its annual operating licence from the Civil Aviation Authority if it can show it is close to arranging funding."

Does not sound very good to me. Even if a temporary licence is granted it will drag on and people will be reluctant to book which will just make things worse.

We are unsettled as we have flights booked in October but for the staff it must be absolutely awful.

 

[Jerry]

We are unsettled as we have flights booked in October but for the staff it must be absolutely awful.

If you just booked a flight then it should be ok because only a holiday package operator needs ATOL. It sounds like it's the Monarch Holidays that could be going not Monarch Airlines. As they are transitioning to a low cost carrier it sounds like this may be the final part of it just not well handled!

 

[JF57]

If you just booked a flight then it should be ok because only a holiday package operator needs ATOL. It sounds like it's the Monarch Holidays that could be going not Monarch Airlines. As they are transitioning to a low cost carrier it sounds like this may be the final part of it just not well handled!

At the end of the day for us it is flights, inconvenience and money to book replacement flights. For the staff it is their jobs. Massive difference.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

If you just booked a flight then it should be ok because only a holiday package operator needs ATOL. It sounds like it's the Monarch Holidays that could be going not Monarch Airlines.

I assume that this means Monarch Engineering would also be unaffected - I've not heard this mentioned here or on other forums.
I hope everything works out for Monarch (all divisions).

Kevin

 

[Jerry]

At the end of the day for us it is flights, inconvenience and money to book replacement flights. For the staff it is their jobs. Massive difference.

Sorry but i was just

I assume that this means Monarch Engineering would also be unaffected - I've not heard this mentioned here or on other forums.
I hope everything works out for Monarch (all divisions).

Kevin

On the Monarch website only the Airline and MAEL are at the bottom. No Monarch Holiday. Really hope Monarch pull through this as my former employers work for Monarch and they are their biggest customers. Lots of people's livelihoods depend on it.

 

[jfy1999]

There was a poster on Airliners.net saying he had been reliably informed that the ATOL licence had already been paid for, however, Monarch don't seem to have issued any statement.

Report on the dried plum that both United 747s are due to position out to Frankfurt/Hahn tomorrow with the flight plans loaded