Monarch Airlines on its way out?

[Spanna]

steve2 said:

Spanna said:

Thanks for the info, will pass it on and tell him to remain calm. He's flying out of Paphos so it looks like he's stuck for an extra couple of days.

We are in Paphos and are supposed to be flying back on Wednesday so will be interesting as to how your friend gets on tomorrow,
We are keeping an eye on the website which will hopefully keep us updated

They've got him on a flight booked only 3 hours later than the original for tonight. Not sure what company it is with as he hasn't replied. Flying into Birmingham.

[StevieBee]

JB! said:

A little annoyed Westminster didn't step in and wind down gracefully. German government stepped into AirBerlin. Even if it was a months notice, better that than suddenly dead.

I was thinking the same thing - that there needs to be a special case for airlines/holiday companies.

You've got the Government renting planes and crews from all over the place to repatriate people when there's a fleet of perfectly serviceable planes with crews sitting in right airports doing nothing. Surely it would make sense to simply temporarily transfer all ownership and operations to a SV company set up with the sole purpose of repatriation. When it's done, everything gets handed over to the liquidators.

[Calza]

Ticket prices appear to have doubled for flights to Tenerife next month!

Kind of sts on the holiday a bit..

[steve2]

After flying out with Monarch last week we were flown home y Titan airways rom Cyprus and at the original departure time so all was good for us
Titan plane had no livery on it at alll

[AJB88]

steve2 said:

Titan plane had no livery on it at alll

Sounds like the Airbus A318 they have on lease from British Airways

[Craikeybaby]

Has anyone had any luck in getting refunds from their card companies yet?

[RammyMP]

My FIL had 8 return flights booked, paid on a debit card. His bank (RBS) have said he should get the money back, they have set up a 'team' to deal with refunds.

[Calza]

Craikeybaby said:

Has anyone had any luck in getting refunds from their card companies yet?

I was told it would take a long time..

[Dog Star]

Anyone any idea who - or indeed if - anyone is going to be taking over the routes left over by Monarch.

Monarch were the biggest operator out of Gib airport (at least they looked like it) and flew direct to Manchester. I go to Gib quite a lot and it's now a right ballache - got to go by Malaga which is a similar length flight and then get a car down.

[JB!]

StevieBee said:

JB! said:

A little annoyed Westminster didn't step in and wind down gracefully. German government stepped into AirBerlin. Even if it was a months notice, better that than suddenly dead.

I was thinking the same thing - that there needs to be a special case for airlines/holiday companies.

You've got the Government renting planes and crews from all over the place to repatriate people when there's a fleet of perfectly serviceable planes with crews sitting in right airports doing nothing. Surely it would make sense to simply temporarily transfer all ownership and operations to a SV company set up with the sole purpose of repatriation. When it's done, everything gets handed over to the liquidators.

Yep seems nuts to spend X when there are staff and a flying fleet good to go.

[98elise]

JB! said:

StevieBee said:

JB! said:

A little annoyed Westminster didn't step in and wind down gracefully. German government stepped into AirBerlin. Even if it was a months notice, better that than suddenly dead.

I was thinking the same thing - that there needs to be a special case for airlines/holiday companies.

You've got the Government renting planes and crews from all over the place to repatriate people when there's a fleet of perfectly serviceable planes with crews sitting in right airports doing nothing. Surely it would make sense to simply temporarily transfer all ownership and operations to a SV company set up with the sole purpose of repatriation. When it's done, everything gets handed over to the liquidators.

Yep seems nuts to spend X when there are staff and a flying fleet good to go.

How many of the monarch staff would be coming to work and how many will be looking for another job?

[steve-5snwi]

JB! said:

Yep seems nuts to spend X when there are staff and a flying fleet good to go.

Its not that easy though, the planes were leased and the certificate that allows them to fly with fare paying passengers was withdrawn. We also have slightly different laws regarding airlines and insolvency.

Most of Air berlins fleet is owned by Lufthansa and they were an airline, not a holiday company like Monarch. It was Monarchs ATOL licence that was not renewed, had they been an airline only they would not have needed the ATOL licence. At the end of the day it was Greybull who were partly responsible for the demise along with Monarch not offering anything unique to the market and they were always on a hiding to nothing trying to compete against Ryanair and Easyjet. Jet2 are the only company that seem to be growing well.