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22/09/2005
Mammoth expansion announced by Monarch Scheduled at Birmingham
In a move that proves Birmingham is fast becoming the bargain flights capital of the Midlands, low cost airline Monarch Scheduled is announcing a major expansion to its services from the airport for next summer. As well as introducing three brand new routes to Spain, the airline will also increase capacity on its already successful routes, double its fleet by basing an additional £50m Airbus A321 aircraft in Birmingham and create 60 new jobs at the airport.
After the hugely successful launch of the new base in April 2005, Monarch Scheduled is introducing three brand new destinations to its network from Birmingham: Murcia (four times each week*), Menorca (three times per week*) and Palma de Mallorca (once per week*).
Since opening it’s Birmingham base, Monarch Scheduled has carried more than 160,000 passengers to and from Europe and will continue next summer to offer daily flights to Tenerife and three flights per week to Alicante, whilst vastly increasing capacity on its other existing routes with:
five extra flights per week to Malaga* – this means a double-daily service to and from the Costa del Sol’s most popular city each Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and represents a 40% capacity increase on the route compared to Summer 05
a 600% increase in frequency to Faro* – proving such a popular route, flights to the Algarve will operate everyday instead of just once per week
Commenting on the developments, Tim Jeans, managing director of Monarch Scheduled said, “This is an exciting day for Monarch Scheduled and our rapid growth further proves our commitment to Birmingham International Airport. We launched our base with confidence earlier this year and our record-breaking summer is testimony to the fact that we were right about there being a strong market for low fares and high quality service in the Midlands.
We have received the wholehearted support of the Airport which has introduced a range of initiatives to ensure that costs are competitive with any other airport in the region.”
Birmingham International Airport’s Business Development Director Peter Vella said: “We’re delighted that Monarch Scheduled has taken this step to expand its operation from Birmingham. This is further confirmation that both full fare and low cost airlines are continuing to recognise the huge benefits of operating from Birmingham thanks to our first class facilities. We look forward to working with the Monarch team to make these new routes a success, providing even more choice and flexibility for Midlands’ travellers from our expanding route network.”
Today’s expansion represents a year-on-year capacity increase of 104% – there will be 200,000 more seats on sale for Summer 06 than there were for Summer 05.
Monarch Scheduled’s Birmingham base began operating flights to four destinations in April 2005 and this increases to seven destinations from Summer ’06.
* New and existing route frequencies:
Murcia – new route, twice per week from 10.02.06, increasing to four per week from 01.05.06
Menorca – new route, three times per week from 03.05.06
Palma – new route, once per week from 07.05.06
Malaga – daily with double daily flights on four days per week from 25.05.06-24.09.06, increasing to double daily flights on five days per week from 24.07.06-04.09.06
Faro – increases to daily service from 01.05.06
Tenerife – remains a daily service
Alicante – remains three flights per week