Britain’s oldest airline Monarch collapses leaving thousands stranded abroad
BRITAIN’S oldest airline Monarch collapsed yesterday, sparking the country’s biggest peacetime repatriation.
Holidaymakers, newlyweds and stag parties were among 110,000 passengers stranded as the company went into administration.
They were told in a casually worded text that their flights were cancelled, hours after being assured they were “operating as normal”.
Another 860,000 bookings were scrapped in what the Civil Aviation Authority called “the biggest ever UK airline failure”.
Officials scrambled to find other planes to bring passengers home as ministers spoke of the biggest repatriation since Dunkirk in World War Two.
But customers told of ruined holidays, honeymoons and wedding trips and some said they still had no idea how they would get home.
And there were chaotic scenes at British airports as passengers tried to book alternative flights.
Builder Alan Jee, 42, from Bournemouth, was due to fly from Gatwick with 30 guests for his wedding to Donna Smith, 40, in Gran Canaria.
He said: “They let us through passport control and with five minutes left until we flew they cancelled everything. It’s devastating.”
Also stranded at Gatwick were Barbosa Durcikova, 27 and fianceé Vera Bunatova, 25. They said they received no communication from Monarch to tell them their flight had been cancelled.
Barbosa said: “We’re getting married next year and this was going to be our first holiday together.”
Other passengers said they had to fork out hundreds of pounds to secure alternative flights.
Ann and George Johnson, from Luton, lost their package holiday in Portugal and had to pay £296 to fly with Ryanair.
Ann, 75, said: “Ryanair must be coining it in. They are capitalising on people’s misery.”
Amanda Lunn and Mark Damms, from Withernsea, East Yorkshire, had to cancel their two-week honeymoon in Turkey.
Bus driver Amanda, 48, said: “We have ten kids between us and we never get any time to ourselves and this holiday was just going to be about us.”
In Lanzarote, Debbie Pilditch, 57, said she faced being turfed out on to the street because Monarch had failed to pay for her hotel.
The carer, from Malden, Surrey, said: “I have already paid the money when I booked it and I certainly don’t have it now.”
Adam Smith, 26, from Chester, was trapped in Tenerife with girlfriend Amanda Griffiths. He said: “It has ruined her birthday, she is 30 on Tuesday and I had taken her away for that. Monarch knew this was going to happen and they haven’t been straight with us.”
Downing Street said Prime Minister Theresa May was determined to ensure Monarch passengers abroad were brought home.
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A spokesman added: “This is a very distressing situation.”
Monarch, founded in 1968, has been brought down by the intense competition among budget airlines.
It was also hit by the slump in the pound, increased fuel costs and terror fears decimating tourism in Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia.
In the past year, it claimed to have flown 14 per cent more customers but revenue fell £100million.
Attempts to resuscitate the business failed and at 4am yesterday the company, based at Luton airport, called in the administrators. They are likely to try to break up the business to sell it.
The decision means 2,100 Monarch staff face losing their jobs. Some were in tears, others headed to the pub to drown their sorrows.
One said: “The airline is like a family. We are devastated.”
The CAA said it had secured 35 aircraft from 16 airlines for the rescue effort. Last night the Department of Transport said 6,125 passengers had been rescued, with a further 31 rescue flights scheduled for today.
Threat of low-cost rivals was ignored
THE devastating impact of global terrorism may have been the final nail in the coffin for the once-great British airline Monarch.
But but it, too, has to take responsibility for its catastrophic failure.
After 50 years of flying holidaymakers to sunny climes it failed to see the threat posed by low-cost airlines until it was too late.
A major player in Egypt and Tunisia, it was hit hard by the tourism bans and forced to compete in the crowded market on short-haul routes.
With the low-cost giants on one side and the large tour operator charter airlines on the other, Monarch had nowhere to go and no unique selling point.
The plunging pound post-Brexit tipped it over the edge as holidaymakers hesitated and it was forced to pay for so much in euros and dollars.
Nearly a million passengers will have been caught up in the failure — and millions more will see prices for flights rising as less competition means Monarch’s rivals can push up fares.
It’s a tragedy to see a well-loved, once-great company consigned to the history books.
Bad choices and worse luck will only mean more uncertainty for British holidaymakers.
Q&A
How can passengers recover the cost of cancelled flights?
There are several ways in which passengers may be reimbursed: through the Atol protection scheme, via their credit card companies or potentially by asking tour operators to rebook.
Only five per cent of Monarch’s bookings are Atol protected as it does not cover any made directly with airlines.
Could it happen again?
Other failures cannot be ruled out as competition hots up in the aviation industry.
The latest data from insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor found the number of air transport operators showing signs of financial distress, had leapt from 21 to 35 in a year.
Can I protect myself in future?
It’s worth checking to see if your insurance includes standard airline failure insurance, or Safi. If the airline goes out of business before you travel, Safi may cover flight costs.
If the airline goes out of business while you are away, the insurance could cover the cost of a replacement flight back to the UK.
How much will the repatriation cost?
The government is leasing 30 aircraft at an estimated cost of £10million but the Civil Aviation Authority is thought to be meeting the bill.