Monarch Airlines

[gavin1980]

They're ending charters:

http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature. ... id=2012775

 

[Tarn Spotter]

They are making very clear will still sell to the likes of TC, but now at arms length and I suggest a much higher rate then was the case before.
harriet Greens slimming down of TC aircraft fleet not looking the best decision of 2013 now.
I think a wise decision by Monarch, margins are too tight to allow a third party to nibble at them, let TC and others stand on their own feet, good new for Jet2 Holidays.

 

[White Heather]

Well LBA flights are scheduled, not charters, and they do already sell seats to tour operators, so on the face of it, this isn't really going to affect LBA ops is it? I am not aware that any of the flights out of LBA are charter only. Don't charter flights operate under the MON flight code rather than ZB?

 

[Tarn Spotter]

The former boss of Monarch airlines has now been promoted to boss of the whole group.
Today he has spoken out about Monarchs future.
he states sales in the last 9 months have dipped, but feels Monarch in line with their competitors. However, he states the airline has too big a fleet for its future customer base.
In addition the winter business has lost huge sums of money and must be sorted out. Even for W14 they must cut routes out totally.
For the future he sees for all LCC a reduction in routes both summer and winter and a concerntration with increased flights to the popular destinations.
Frankly I have to agree with him, for a long time I have been cautioning seeing any new rutes from LBA, I think we are about to see the first consolidation from the LCC.

 

[lbaspotter]

Just been announced that Monarch Airlines is closing its East Midlands base as from April 2015 as part of its strategic review. So that only leaves Leeds/Bradford flights still not to be released for next summer 2015 season.

http://www.monarch.co.uk/news/fligh...o-stop-flying-from-east-midlands-base-in-2015

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Looks like Monarch opened their EMA base two years ago (same time as Leeds) and in the article they are also refering to the proximity of their nearest alternative base, at Birmingham being only 37 miles away (similar distance from LBA to MAN)

I am worried.

 

[Bigman]

You're not the only one!!

 

[LBA787]

EMA's pax loads were always higher than LBA's, they had the 2 A321's based instead of the 20's we have. Now as we know loads are not indicative of yeald but it must go some way. I'm am now seriously worried for our operation past April 2015.

To be honest i think the writings on the wall...

 

[User0001]

Without any slight to LBA, I would have thought with the EMA news, it is now quite obvious what is about to happen......

Then again, miricles do happen occasionally.

 

[White Heather]

It also refers to the fact that the changes being applied are already reflected in their Summer 15 Schedule from their main bases, much of which is already on sale. Well it isn't from LBA and I doubt they regard LBA as a main base with 2 a/c here. So the question is do they axe LBA as they have EMA on the basis that there is another airport over the hill, or do they increase their fleet at LBA and turn it into a main base? You might expect that if they were closing LBA they would have announced it at the same time, which suggests that either they are not, or they are still considering it, or the decision is made but they are going to announce it separately. But, they have already said the review will not be complete for LBA until the Autumn, so does that suggest that no decision has yet been made whether to stay or go, or they are staying but the flying programme is not yet decided. Confused? You bet I am.

What I would say is it is a damned sight easier to get from EMA to BHX than it is from LBA to MAN. No Pennines in the way, and a largely flat motorway/dual carriageway from airport to airport. That certainly isn't the case between West Yorkshire and Manchester.

I am hoping that given the fact that LBA pax are drawn from places that are East and North of Leeds too, and which are many miles from MAN, that they will see this side of the Pennines as a region that they wish to have a presence in - and that LBA becomes a main base rather than an ex base. Time will tell but its going to be a tense wait. I do think that at EMA, they can retain many of their customers who will not have too much trouble flying out of BHX, but i suspect that here, they will lose the vast majority of what they have built up if they expect their customers to follow them to MAN. I was speaking to one the other night who always flies Monarch from LBA - but said if they are only operating from MAN he will use Jet2 or Ryanair from LBA.

Of course there is always the unthinkable too; that they close the LBA base and set up a nice new main base at DSA. God forbid.

Incidentally, I have written to LBA to ask what was going on, and as expected, the silence has been deafening. I would have been amazed if they had given any clue as to the likely outcome and can imagine that it is a delicate commercially sensitive situation.

If Monarch do leave, the next interesting thing will be to see if their tour companies (Cosmos and Avro) who already have holidays booking from LBA for summer 15, will withdraw too, or whether they will remain and put their passengers on Jet2 - who serve most, if not all, the routes they operate to. That might result in some further growth for Jet2 using the existing based a/c (and explain partially the basing of more 757'e next year), or allow for a couple more Jet2 a/c to be LBA based. After all, there would be 2 spare stands!

 

[Aviador]

Personally I would say the writing is on the wall and if LBA escapes this time I suspect Monarch will want to see a vast improvement if it is to survive long term. Looking on the Monarch Airlines website it would seem press statements are released for each base on different dates and not generically on the same day. The bases that are safe were all announced within a few days of each other during the beginning of July. With the Leeds base still missing from the airline's website things are looking all too ominous for the Leeds base. I can't see any other reason for the airline to withhold flight releases other than if the base is to close. The only saving grace at this late hour will be if JP and TH can put a lifeline out of the hat but we all know how Bridgepoint feels about spending money to make money.

 

[SNOWMAN]

good morning all
have just noticed that MONARCH HOLIDAYS are showing larnaca from LBA on sunday afternoons in JULY 2015 hope this is good news for us? fingers crossed.
regards
sm1 :good:

 

[Aviador]

I've conducted my own searches and found nothing is it possible to post a url link to the page? Obviously everybody is hoping you're right. Two aircraft down for summer 15 is a major setback otherwise!

 

[dmrodgers]

I've conducted my own searches and found nothing is it possible to post a url link to the page? Obviously everybody is hoping you're right. Two aircraft down for summer 15 is a major setback otherwise!

jut looked on Monarch Holidays and yes Larnaca is shown and bookable in July 2015. Here is the link, fingers crossed that we may have escaped the axe for the time being.

http://www.monarch.co.uk/search-results ... /0/default

 

[Aviador]

Fingers crossed, arms crossed, legs crossed, everything crossed.

 

[superking]

Post on dried plum this morning states, 1000 jobs to go, aircraft fleet reduced from 42 t0 30. no link report came from sunday times.
charter and long haul to cease.
losses this year is 60 million this year
does or will this have any affect on lba. time will tell, but hope they do carry on with a programe out of lba.

 

[SNOWMAN]

hi all
I was talking to a friend last night who works for T.C.and he stated that they were still selling summer 2015 ex L.B.A.on monarch.that was yesterday sat 16/8/14.we all no things can change,make what you will of the info.
regards sm1

 

[Aviador]

For a company the size of Monarch £60m really isn't much. Looking back at the Thomas Cook crisis back in 2011 that company was in debts of over 1bn which puts things into prospective.

Article in the Telegraph about Thomas Cook Debt

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Whilst £60m is a small debt, it has to be put in context. TC went to the city with a rights issue to raise the money needed.
The owning mantegazza family has flatly refused to put more money in to the company and is looking for outside funds to continue the business.
Unfortunately the airline is the loss maker in the group, other parts such as the aircraft maintenance are huge profit centres, why invest in a loss making company, the pension debt to its employee scheme is in excess of £140m, the £60m is the money just to keep the company running, not to cover the overall debts of the company which are huge.

 

[White Heather]

Ulmately it will come down to whether or not Monarch and its advisors consider that there is the demand for a presence at LBA on the basis that Monarch become a low cost airline. I would have thought the demand would be there, because Jet2 have effectively gone the other direction from low cost to no longer that cheap and with a significant reliance on Jet2 Holidays passengers. Monarch would therefore be going head to head with Ryanair at LBA and whether they would win in that battle, or persuade passengers to transfer allegiance from jet2 would very much depend on the fares they offer.

I am hoping that Monarch will see this side of the Pennines as a region which can sustain their presence and that they don't go back down the line that we can all trek across to MAN if we want to fly with them. The journey between EMA and BHX is very much simpler than that from Leeds to Manchester and the two airports are a few miles closer together too. I have seen reports that the EMA based Monarch crew are to be transferred to BHX and MAN - so if LBA closes will the same happen to our crews which should be similar in number to EMA (who also had 2 based aircraft). Will there be a demand for so many crew at MAN?

Since we know that Monarch are to stop carrying charter passengers, we can surely forget whatever Cosmos are doing and booking as they have already said Cosmos will put their passengers on 3rd party airlines. Lets hope they continue to sell holidays from LBA and put them on Jet2 or charter their own aircraft (it would be nice to see some Spanish carriers back at LBA, but I suspect those days are gone). Whatever happens, 2015 is now looking like another year of negative growth unless Tony Hallwood has some big surprises up his sleeve. I just hope that given the reduction in bookings this year, there will be a lot of people who, by next year, are desperate to get away and that bookings pick up. Hate to say it but LBA needs the weather to be rubbish for the next 6 months!!