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Monarch Airlines flights cancelled as airline goes into administration Monarch Airlines collapse: UK’s biggest peacetime repatriation under way
(about 2 hours later)
Monarch Airlines has been placed into administration and all flights from the UK have been cancelled and will not be rescheduled, accountants KPMG said on Sunday night. The UK’s biggest peacetime repatriation is under way after the collapse of Monarch Airlines, with 110,000 customers to be brought back home on specially chartered planes.
The Civil Aviation Authority said it had launched a programme to bring 110,000 Monarch Airlines customers back to the UK in response to the airline being placed into administration, which also leaves 300,000 future bookings cancelled. It is being called Britain’s biggest ever airline collapse. The accountants KPMG announced in the early hours of Monday that Monarch, Britain’s longest-surviving airline, had been placed into administration and that all further flights from the UK had been cancelled and would not be rescheduled.
The CAA said it had been asked by the government to charter more than 30 aircraft to bring the passengers back to the UK after the airline failed to renew a crucial licence. All Monarch customers who are abroad and due to return to the UK in the next two weeks will be flown home at no extra cost and they do not need to cut short their stay, according to the regulator. The Civil Aviation Authority said it had launched a programme to bring Monarch customers home over the next fortnight, chartering 30 planes for the rescue operation.
All Monarch customers who are abroad and due to return to the UK in the next two weeks will be flown home at no extra cost and they do not need to cut short their stay, according to the regulator. But it said the “harsh message” was that 300,000 future bookings had been cancelled and anyone who had booked holidays leaving the UK would not be able to travel.
The CAA chief executive, Andrew Haines, said: “We know that Monarch’s decision to stop trading will be very distressing for all of its customers and employees. This is the biggest UK airline ever to cease trading, so the government has asked the CAA to support Monarch customers currently abroad to get back to the UK at the end of their holiday at no extra cost to them.The CAA chief executive, Andrew Haines, said: “We know that Monarch’s decision to stop trading will be very distressing for all of its customers and employees. This is the biggest UK airline ever to cease trading, so the government has asked the CAA to support Monarch customers currently abroad to get back to the UK at the end of their holiday at no extra cost to them.
“We are putting together, at very short notice and for a period of two weeks, what is effectively one of the UK’s largest airlines to manage this task. The scale and challenge of this operation means that some disruption is inevitable. We ask customers to bear with us as we work around the clock to bring everyone home.”“We are putting together, at very short notice and for a period of two weeks, what is effectively one of the UK’s largest airlines to manage this task. The scale and challenge of this operation means that some disruption is inevitable. We ask customers to bear with us as we work around the clock to bring everyone home.”
Customers affected by the company’s collapse have been urged to check a dedicated website – monarch.caa.co.uk – for advice and information on flights back to the UK. It also gives information to those passengers that have future bookings with Monarch but are yet to leave the UK. Speaking on the BBC Today programme, the CAA chair, Dame Deirdre Hutton, said no one was “stranded” abroad, but she said for people yet to travel with Monarch, the news was not good, adding: “I’m conscious that people who have booked holidays will be distressed ... I’m afraid the harsh message is that they must not go to the airport, there will not be a flight for them.”
Customers affected by the company’s collapse have been urged to check hte dedicated website monarch.caa.co.uk for advice and information on flights back to the UK. It also provides information for passengers that have future bookings with Monarch but are yet to leave the UK.
The government has warned passengers to expect disruption and delays as it works to ensure there are enough flights to return the “huge number” of passengers.The government has warned passengers to expect disruption and delays as it works to ensure there are enough flights to return the “huge number” of passengers.
Commenting on the “extraordinary operation”, the transport secretary, Chris Grayling said: “This is a hugely distressing situation for British holidaymakers abroad – and my first priority is to help them get back to the UK. That is why I have immediately ordered the country’s biggest ever peacetime repatriation to fly about 110,000 passengers who could otherwise have been left stranded abroad. Commenting on the “extraordinary operation”, the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said: “This is a hugely distressing situation for British holidaymakers abroad – and my first priority is to help them get back to the UK. That is why I have immediately ordered the country’s biggest ever peacetime repatriation to fly about 110,000 passengers who could otherwise have been left stranded abroad.
“Nobody should underestimate the size of the challenge, so I ask passengers to be patient and act on the advice given by the CAA.”“Nobody should underestimate the size of the challenge, so I ask passengers to be patient and act on the advice given by the CAA.”
The CAA, the UK’s airline regulator, had been expected to announce on Monday whether Monarch would be able to continue selling package holidays. The low-cost airline and holiday company previously had a deadline of midnight on 30 September before its Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (Atol) expired. The CAA had been expected to announce on Monday whether Monarch would be able to continue selling package holidays. The low-cost airline and holiday company previously had a deadline of midnight on 30 September before its Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (Atol) expired.
The firm was granted a 24-hour extension to the licence by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), until midnight on 1 October.
The announcement came just after midnight that Monarch would cease operating, with all flights cancelled.
It was Monarch’s second such temporary extension in two years and followed a spotlight being shone on the carrier’s finances.
The licence allows the firm to sell Atol-protected holidays. The CAA confirmed over the weekend that Atol protection would remain available for eligible holiday bookings made with the airline on Sunday.
This is the biggest ever UK airline failure. The CAA and Government are working together to support #Monarch customers. pic.twitter.com/YsXrGdj5FBThis is the biggest ever UK airline failure. The CAA and Government are working together to support #Monarch customers. pic.twitter.com/YsXrGdj5FB
Monarch, whose headquarters are at London Luton Airport, was founded in 1968. It also operates from four other UK bases including London Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds Bradford to more than 40 destinations around Europe and further afield. Monarch, whose headquarters are at London Luton airport, was founded in 1968. It operates from four other UK bases – London Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds Bradford – travelling to more than 40 destinations around the world.
The company employs approximately 2,750 predominantly UK-based staff, its website states. The company employs about 2,750 predominantly UK-based staff, its website stated. Monarch said it would work with the administrators, and the unions Balpa and Unite to help its employees find new jobs as quickly as possible.
UK travel firms selling holidays and flights are required to hold an Atol, which protects customers with pre-booked holidays from being stranded abroad in the event of circumstances such as the company ceasing to trade. Unite accused the government of “sitting on its hands” while Monarch went bust. The union, which represents about 1,800 engineers and cabin crew working for Monarch, said potential investors and buyers were deterred by the continuing uncertainty surrounding Brexit and whether British airlines could continue flights around Europe.
With the Press Association Unite said ministers had rebuffed requests by Monarch for a bridging loan of the kind the German government recently gave to prop up Air Berlin.Oliver Richardson, a Unite national officer, said: “Monarch’s workforce has worked tirelessly and loyally, with great sacrifice, to try and turn the airline around in the last year. “Their hard work has been undone by a government seemingly content to sit on its hands and allow one of the UK’s oldest airlines go into administration.”
Monarch enjoyed a good reputation for customer service but its long-term future rarely looked assured. In 2014, its Swiss family owners sold the company to the investment firm Greybull Capital, a deal that resulted in airline staff being forced to agree to pay cuts.
A Greybull spokesman said: “We are very sorry that we have not been able to turn around the Monarch Group, and for all the inconvenience and distress that this administration will cause customers, employees and the many people who are associated with Monarch.”
Greybull said the airline had been “buffeted by factors outside of its control”. Terrorism and the collapse of sterling following the Brexit vote were the two main factors, it said.
Egypt and Tunisia, two of Monarch’s biggest markets, were closed to tourists after terrorist attacks, while a resulting flood of seats across airlines to its core business in Spain and Portugal meant cheaper fares, which were unsustainable for Monarch.
The fall of the pound left Monarch paying £50m a year more for fuel and aircraft, purchased in dollars.
In a letter to staff, its chief executive, Andrew Swaffield, said the airline was carrying 14% more passengers than last year for £100m less revenue. He said the “root causes” of its declining revenue were terror attacks in Egypt and Tunisia and the decline of its Turkey business.
Its engineering arm, Monarch Aircraft Engineering, a joint venture with Boeing, continues to trade and is operating as normal.
The administrators said they were considering breaking up the company as no buyer had been found. Blair Nimmo of KPMG said: “While there have been some expressions of interest, in reality no offers for the business as a whole have been forthcoming, so we now are looking for who might be interested in certain parts of business, whether it be physical assets or whether it be slots, i.e. routes that they currently operate.”