BCAR SectionL wrote (Way back on page 7): "Lots of high praise being thrown around here which didn't happen in the air berlin thread.
So to stop me getting confused can someone please identify what great innovative idea monarch brought to aviation that made them so good?"
They were decent to their pilots, treated them with respect, trained them well and paid them accordingly, with good Ts & Cs. The management worked well with the unions, not in constant confrontation, hence the goodwill returned by the pilots was enormous. They at least tried to always do the right thing for their passengers. They hardly cancelled flights when the chips were down, unlike most others.
Until 2nd October they were the UK's longest holder of an AOC under their original name. Longer than Thomson/TUI and also BA. The former used to be Britannia, the latter BOAC and BEA. Britannia started their operation only a year earlier than Monarch, maybe two. Monarch were the first UK operator to gain Cat 3B approval and ETOPS approval, (more or less the same time as BA), after they took the risk of buying new, white-tailed 757s, the first UK operator to do so and, I'm told, only the third in the world. These started transatlantic long haul (hence the ETOPS) for the charter market which was quite revolutionary.
But that was then. They didn't introduce lo-cost short haul, contract pilot practices, fees for baggage and boarding passes, punishing rosters using FTLs as targets, questionable business practices with their airports, or any of the other generally cut-throat nastiness that appeared twenty or so years ago. It was never in the company's nature or culture. Hence it was Monarch's throat that was ultimately cut. That's business.
So, BCAR Section L, nothing truly "innovative" or totally game-changing, but that wasn't the point and that's not why they are missed.
Last edited by earnest; 7th Oct 2017 at 14:56.