Monarch Airlines collapse: UKs biggest peacetime repatriation under way

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/02/monarch-airlines-flights-cancelled-as-airline-goes-into-administration

Monarch Airlines collapse: UK’s biggest peacetime repatriation under way

Gwyn Topham

Monday 2 October 2017 08.51 BST

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 accountants KPMG announced in the early hours of Monday that Monarch, Britain’s longest-surviving airline brand, had been placed into administration and that all further flights from the UK had been cancelled and would not be rescheduled.

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. 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.”
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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.
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[nitpicker]

1. They also had flights to the USA

Especially advertising cheap flights to Florida.

But terrorism played a role in this.

From the above:

(snip)
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.
(snip)

[BigmanPigman]

2. I do not understand. Did the airline go bust suddenly and travelers are

screwed?

[Ghost Dog]

3. Monarch's bankruptcy was predicted. Travellers booked to return to UK

Last edited Mon Oct 2, 2017, 09:23 PM - Edit history (1)

over the next two weeks will be looked after; all others booked on other Monarch flights will need to reclaim monies paid and make alternative arrangements.

[nitpicker]

4. The trigger may have been Air Travel Organisers Licence expiration

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/02/monarch-airlines-flights-cancelled-as-airline-goes-into-administration

(snip)
The accountants KPMG announced in the early hours of Monday that Monarch, Britain’s longest-surviving airline brand, had been placed into administration and that all further flights from the UK had been cancelled and would not be rescheduled.
(snip)

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.
(snip)

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. 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.
(snip)

The administrators said they were considering breaking up the company because 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, ie routes that they currently operate.”