Originally Posted by
Diverskii
I'm curious, flights booked directly with MON after 14th December 2016 are not ATOL protected. So why were flights before then protected? Did Monarch Airlines Ltd. hold their own ATOL certificate separate to the holidays branch?
The did, the CAA imposed it on them due to the finances looking a bit dicey in 2014 when Greybull took over.
With the cash injection they got last year and the subsequent announcement that it secured their long term financial stability the CAA eased the restriction and allowed them to sell flights on the same level as everyone else with no cover (ATOL carries a £2.50 per person surcharge ).
Personally I think it's really rather sad that it's had to come to this, can't help but wonder what would have happened had they kept the 787 order and took on TUI/TCX in the longhaul leisure fray. I had some great flight with them in recent years, notably the last A300 flight but also a few scheduled trips down to Malaga and Innsbruck - sadly the thing that really made those flights stand out aside from the great crews was the fact they were largely empty. Only 16 of us on an A321 BHX - INN.