But by the same token, when you look at your typical Monarch routes, if they couldn't achieve such loads in peak Summer then there definitely would be something going wrong. Championing high August load factors at a bucket and spade based carrier doesn't really hold any water. An airline with a more diverse network can achieve similar loads on similar routes whilst seeing some load reductions on business orientated routes during that sae 'peak' period.
easyflyer makes an excellent point. When Monarch have diversified they have so far, had to retreat e.g from Madrid & Milan (I would not be surprised to see Verona & Munich next). If they are serious about city flights then they need to do more homework first. The last time I took ZB to BCN, I had 3 seats to myself, that was a few months ago, since then I've been on KLM.
Obviously MXP has had bad loads that is why they are dropping it. I think MUC will be OK once the winter season gets going, Its FDH that I'm unsure about. Also people have said VRN has had bad loads they still seem to be operating it next year. They only do it from MAN anyway.
At EMA we're still seeing the Air Italy Group and the Small Planet aircraft but as well as the voices of the wet lease crews we've come to recognise there is now a profoundly british voice in the flight deck on every flight and from what I can gather its the captains.
Now I doubt these are the incoming based captains as the Air Italy and Small Planet a/c are a 733 and a 734 but the based ZB is to be A321 so I can only presume this is in response to another issue.
Last edited by Burnie5204; 22nd Oct 2012 at 11:07.
During last week, media reports quoted ABTA as staing that package holidays are now increasing again. In fact during 2010 37% of travellers prefered package holidays. During 2011 that figure increased to 42% and this year the figure stands at 48%. If it increases to 60% that figure will represent the pre Easyjet and Ryanair days.
Maybe there will be interesting years ahead once more?
Wouldn't say there is a British speaking captain flying every day, every flight, there is one working for Small Planet, that's it. Passengers are lucky if they get 1 Monarch flight attended pop up once a week, usually on a Saturday morning.
I would, speaking to them briefly and seeing them getting on and off both aircraft as well as hearing them on the radio all day (8 movements either inbound or outbound)
Even if it was only yesterday it's certainly not something that we've seen/heard since they started operating the wet leases at EMA but there was definately one british flight crew member and one non-native voice on every MON flightdeck yesterday.
Last edited by Burnie5204; 22nd Oct 2012 at 16:10.
Inbound to MAN 21/10/2012 MXP 69 passengers. VRN 86 passengers mostly grey haired walkers.
STATSMAN, Don't forget some of us Silver Foxes have plenty of disposable cash to spend. Also I would expect the autumn to be relatively quiet as it is after the summer season (VRN is good in summer for the Italian Lakes and Opera festival) but before the ski season when VRN provides good access to the Alps. When I used the route in the summer it was absolutley packed with both high end holiday makers and city breakers. I think VRN will be fine. With regard to MXP it suprised me that ZB even picked this as they would be up against Flybe as well as the 'cheaper' option of FR at Bergamo. I would like them to try elsewhere in Italy or France that is currently unserved (e.g. Bordeaux)
Would really like to see Monarch launch flights to Pisa, every other major UK airport has flights so the demand must be surely be there. And given the loads on bmibaby's last flights to Lisbon and Prague then surely they're worth investigating? Other possible destinations; Geneva? Warsaw? Riga?
Funnily enough, the majority of the crews are Italian or Lithuanian. The crew change round every so often, they all have tour plans and rotate around after so many flights. There is only one English Captain I have met, probably more. Its also an A320 that's being based for the winter.
Just be aware of Monarch`s so called special offers..I received an email offering a discount on flights,using one their codes, valid until the 31st October only to find when I went to book tonight , for some strange reason, that it has now expired early. Fine if thats their game, on principle will now book elsewhere. Whatever they do, their management appears less than convincing
After the Stansted sale, perhaps a shift of some of those Gatwick routes to Stansted since EasyJet are dropping the key ones like Alicante and Barcelona? Only Ryanair remains on those now, not even a Thomson charter or anything like that!
The only problem is that Monarch, amongst many other airlines like this view it as the tradition to serve Gatwick since that was designated the holiday/leisure/charter flight airport of London and a move to Stansted would be ultimately unrealistic. It's an approach that airlines need to drop and airlines should cater for the under-served markets, rather than overcrowding airports with too much direct competition having duplicate routes from several airlines. For example there will now be about 15 daily departures from Gatwick with 5 airlines to Barcelona in the summer, Stansted and Luton will have only up to 2 departures with 1 airline each! There is no way that demand for this route is more than 5 times stronger round Sussex than in Essex.
Particularly after the Stansted sale, Monarch could acheive much higher yield at Stansted than Gatwick, but it's this biased sort of "tradition" that makes them soldier on at Gatwick, where they have now just become obscured as one of a load of operators, they don't scream out as a highly attractive option with the likes of EasyJet and BA alongside them. They would at Stansted since many would happily pay that bit more to avoid flying with Ryanair!
Monarch are a highly attractive option at LGW and other airports. Their costs are competitive and they have a large base of regular passengers who appreciate the higher standards offered. Monarch are a well known and respected operator.
Precisely! That's why they are sort of shooting themselves in the foot by offering the same routes as EasyJet, Thomson, Thomas Cook, BA in some cases and now Norwegian as well! In all fairness, their costs are not that different to EasyJet if cheaper at all and the frequencies of most of their routes are considerably less so what (other than the slightly higher standards as you put it) about Monarch really screams out to the consumer over the above airlines?
All I'm saying is I beleive Monarch could still remain highly competetive by competing indirectly with those airlines by stepping into Stansted (not suggesting Monarch should completely leave Gatwick) since it's fairly under-served on their key routes such as Alicante, Faro etc. as only Ryanair now flies those routes from Stansted. Monarch could take advantage of the EasyJet closures of those routes by opening a small base at Stansted since Ryanair is less of a threat than it's current direct competitors at Gatwick since the service differenciates on a greater level. As I say, a lot of people would choose to pay a bit extra for the standards of Monarch and avoid Ryanair!
That's why they are sort of shooting themselves in the foot by offering the same routes as EasyJet, Thomson, Thomas Cook, BA i
You would prefer them to avoid popular places where many people wish to fly to and diversify into places to where no one wishes to visit? Do you perhaps work in marketing? I feel we may have been in a meeting together at some point....
