Monarch - 3

[Hangar6]

Airlines evolve

Some of you may recall FR being insolvent, Irish gvt were petitioned to step in and save them, and look what happened!

Sometimes the advent of a crisis makes mgmt focus on the numbers that matter, let's hope Monarch get to focus and grow, just like a bankrupt FR did ?

[JustAnother777Driver]

I am ex-spotty M and it must be very sad news for the crews affected by this decision to end long haul flying in Monarch.

[PPRuNe Pop]

I am only going to say this once more. I thought once already was enough but a not so smart arse thought different. Please do NOT publish any letters or anything else that Monarch send to you or their staff. It could be sensitive and very worrying.


I have just banned one not so clever poster who did just that - for a month. If anyone does it again it will be permanent.


In circumstances that are tough times, it can be desperate to know that jobs maybe on the line. That must come from their employers not someone who thinks he doing everyone a favour.


PPP

[PAPI-74]

September doesn't work for me. I guess the Nigel conversion will have to wait....

[arthur harbrow]

Probably not that relevant, but I dropped daughter of at Lgw this morning to go to Preveza.She has phoned to say flight is cancelled until tomorrow, she also noted other delayed Monarch flights.
Is this due to crew shortages, tech aircraft?
I will be in big trouble with her because I recommended them as I try and fly with Monarch when possible.
Hope things work out ok for everyone at the airline as they have always provided me with good sevice.

[LBIA]

Looks like an Leeds/Bradford announcement could be imminent as I see Monarch have started to cut back on the amount of flights to Las Palmas, Grenoble and Barcelona from the original proposed winter schedule this evening.

[2Planks]

Thanks LBIA - nothing like finding out your flight is not operating from a forum. I await the text/e mail barrage. Yet again they have let me down, they have had my money for months and I will get nothing back in return - nothing they can offer me from a close airport will suffice. Grrrr.

[2Planks]

From the booking engine at Monarch.com tonight most of the LBA programme dries up at the end of Oct, the remainder being:
Faro till 26 Mar - Thu and Sun
Lanzarote till 26 Mar - Thu and Sun
Gran Canaria till 16 Mar - Mon and Sat
Tenerife till 27 Mar Tue and Fri
Grenoble till 21 Feb - Sat.


I'm not an expert on rostering etc - but this doesn't even look like a full programme for 1 ac.

[Towerman]

Monarch Future

Hard Facts:

Monarch does not own any of its fleet they are all leased aircraft

The Lessors all met last week with Seabury who are trying to substantially lower lease rental payments

Monarch should / could be a going concern

One of the big four are on standby if no investor comes forward

Jet 2 are prowling but will typically not gonna pay top dollar

Best bet is a trade sale

What happens to Engineering? Good question - jewel in crown. 787 maintenance etc

[Facelookbovvered]

Towerman

I'm not convinced that Jet2 would wade into this, although it would be quantum leap in the scope of Jet2 coverage if it were to do so, but fleet integration,pay scales, & terms and condition would be mess. Whilst the 'Monarch' brand should have value, its only worth something if you intend to keep it, something that Jet2 would be unlikely to do.

For the same reason we can probably discount any of the other LCC getting involved, so a trade sale looks unlikely. I suspect they will have looked at their forward booking and started trimming anything that looks weak going into the winter, some suggestion that EMA flights may be moved in to BHX ahead of the winter program.

MAEL must be worth a lot of money though

So a restructuring and new investors for the airline business must be the best hope for staff and the owners, raising finance secured on the engineering business maybe, but it will be a damaging period for the airline, adapt or die, sadly

[mn06]

Manchester Cancellations?

Does anyone know if Manchester to Antalya, Bodrum, Gran Canaria, Larnaca and Paphos are operating next summer? No flights showing on the website currently...

[MANFOD]

Have those MAN flights you mention been removed or were they not in when schedules for s2015 were first loaded?

[lagerlout]

I was definitely looking at some Manchester flights that now seem to have gone!!

Is MAN also to get a bit of a chop???

[Falcon666]

Luton is also the same at the moment.
Antalya, Bodrum and Corfu not bookable for S15 but were in the system last week.
Interesting that it appears to be just those two bases presently.

[toledoashley]

There is also no Gatwick - Bodrum, Heraklion, Hurghada & Ibiza next summer either.

[Ascendo tuum]

Jet2 prowling

"Jet 2 are prowling but will typically not gonna pay top dollar"


I believe Towerman is talking about the A330 fleet, not the entire company.

[gilesdavies]

The Airline's review is backfiring and turning into a PR disaster...

This whole review of the airline is turning into a sham and effecting customers who have already made travel plans... This is turning into one epic PR disaster and airline is going to fall on its own sword at this rate!

Last week the airline was showing 3x weekly flights between Luton and Sharm El Sheikh for January 2015 and now this is down to a single weekly flight when I went to book yesterday...

The airline is messing about passengers who already have made travel plans and it is already showing on their Facebook page... Surely the airline should never have released their summer 2015 schedule, to then go and withdraw routes a few weeks down the line.

People are saying on the Facebook how they have noticed routes disappearing and other people saying how their friends have already booked a flight and they have gone to book and not showing. The airline does not respond to these posts, while other peoples posts are responded too.

I hope the airline is appropriately compensating passengers that have their flights cancelled, for example covering the additional costs if prices are more expensive with another airline or travel costs to fly from another airport. But some how I doubt it!

I have no confidence in booking with the airline, unless it is within the next few weeks as they seem to be cancelling flights/schedules and times.

[Nyerp]

So far that's 12 routes next summer not bookable, will there be new routes, increased frequencies on existing or are they looking to consolidate and return aircraft to lessors?

[ATNotts]

The airline is messing about passengers who already have made travel plans and it is already showing on their Facebook page... Surely the airline should never have released their summer 2015 schedule, to then go and withdraw routes a few weeks down the line.

People are saying on the Facebook how they have noticed routes disappearing and other people saying how their friends have already booked a flight and they have gone to book and not showing. The airline does not respond to these posts, while other peoples posts are responded too.

Let's be fair to Monarch; they are doing what most other carriers do these days - add routes, cancel routes, reduce frequencies etc. all at a (commercial) whim with scant regard for their customers plans. This isn't new, IT operators have been doing it for years - more so back in the 1970 and 1980s when their flight details in brochures were little better than a best selling work of fiction. It's not nice, but the industry has always treated the "bucket and spade" passenger with contempt when it comes to changing arrangements.

I ask, it is really wise to fan the flames of "bad publicity", putting Monarch employee's jobs at risk? Personally I consider it bad form, and something that we shouldn't be indulging in in these forums.

[SWBKCB]

Fair point, but this isn't the 70's and 80's and it isn't the passengers who are putting out press releases about reviews or not responding to questions on their own forum.

The bad publicity seems to be of Monarch's making and they need to get a grip.