Airlines battle in bid to win winter passengers at Leeds-Bradford International Airport (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
The news came as Monarch’s deal with the airport was hailed after months of negotiations between the firms. Initially, the airline, which flies almost 90 routes from four other airports across the UK, will start with their ‘ski flights’ to Grenoble and Munich in Germany in December, but has promised a wider range and some new routes to tourist hotspots next summer.
Monarch’s managing director Kevin George said Leeds-Bradford was becoming a “very good regional airport” to fly from and his firm will set up an operational base at the site.
“The launch of scheduled flights from LBA is an exciting move for the airline as it also coincides with the introduction of our first programme of ski flights,” he said.
“We see this as the first step of a long relationship with Leeds-Bradford and in the coming weeks will be the announcement of plans for Summer 2013 which will include Leeds-Bradford. Monarch is all about flying to leisure destinations, like the Mediterranean and the Canaries and they are the kinds of destinations we will be covering.”
So it looks like Leeds will become a Monarch base from Summer 2013 with flights to the Med and Canaries.
On another note, with Thomas Cook releasing summer 2013 holidays, I note Leeds Bradford is no longer an option as departure airport. Is this yet to be released or could Monarch effectively be replacing them with the introduction of their scheduled routes from the airport?