The collapse in the £ must eventually lead to a fall in the number of second and third holidays. I think there will be a shortage of PAX, not seats.

I think most people are prepared to take the hit ..whats the alternative ? 2 weeks in a miserable wet and windy blighty

Where does everyone see the future with Monarch? Merge? LH? New bases?

I think in order to survive long term a merger is likely

There's no upside to anyone else in merging with Monarch. They need to carve out a niche somehow but the idea that easyJet or another would in any way want to take on Monarch would be a surprise.

LH is definitely needed at MON without it I think the airline is a sinking ship !
But don't underestimate the spending power of greybull , they have very deep pockets and believe it or not have made money from MON ,
I believe there is also something dodgy happening behind the scenes with greybull/mantagezza

But hasn't the Mantagezza family totally sold out to Greybull?

Yes they have on paper , but in reality they know each other very well !
I believe one of the sons of greybull is marrying a daughter of mantagazza

All pretty greasy Italian money spreading

Being personal friends or even closer means nothing, why would anyone from the Mantagezza family want to get involved with Monarch again be it directly or via Greybull.

Because the family will
Make a great deal of money from the boeings

Except of course that Monarch hold hard-to-come-by slots at LGW and LTN.

And a lot at Manchester at prime times to add to AirportPlanner1
There is no way Monarch should get back into LH as there are enough
operators in the market with BA/VC/TCX/Norwegian/TOM/Rouge and TSC plus
Primera joining as they have just about all the viable long haul covered

The nature of Monarch's programme means it would be hard to build a daily schedule around their portfolio. Not that great an asset.

the long haul ship for Monarch has sailed long ago

there is no competitive LH or LH charter market left that is not fraught with economical and commercial dangers - the world is no longer stable enough and too many new boys on the block and legacy carriers competing with and on leisure routes

if it was my airline (and I am proud to have worked for Monarch in its heyday) I see any risk exposure to these markets would be suicidal

How will they do that?

Via sale and leaseback, supposedly they will get $4mill per airframe so around $180 mil in 2022 when the final max is delivered

dont think that means that

greybull or whosoever is investing the dosh buy the airframes from Boeing then sell them back to them or a leasing co. and then lease them back to monarch

I think they have to change something they can't just keep on competing with ryanair and easyjet. What do people think they should do?

Monarch need to do exactly what Jet2 are doing. Create a respectable family brand.

Well they do have to compete with them too as this is the industry they're all in, but i get what you're saying...

I have however mentioned many things in my post above. It's not so much in what they need to do so differently. They are, contrary to the doom and gloom from some on here, actually doing quite well. Monarch have already got a good thing going and they're on the right path again since the streamlining a couple years back or so. I agree of course they could be doing even better though.

They need to play more on their strengths and not be afraid in showing them off to their full potential. Monarch Holidays, Vantage Club, a respectful route network, 50 years of experience, Monarch Engineering to name but just a few of the things they as a company have to be proud of and should be using more to their benefit.

I feel once the 737 Max-8's arrive, we'll see Monarch head to new places in more ways than one. Again, as I mentioned a few posts back, they should focusing on niche routes from their current bases whilst still of course keeping a foothold in their bread and butter sunshine routes. However, with their current mix of aircraft i feel it will have been hard to venture into these types of routes - mainly because of aircraft size, but also complexity in schedulling where a A320 / A321 will need to end up flying to before / afterwards.

Would have thought monarch despite the problems have a far more "respectable" image than jet 2 which rightly or wrongly are perceived as rather pikey by many

I would say perhaps Jet2 could be terms more brash / in your face; whereas the the image Monarch portrays is more "classy" - up market if you like.

The substance might be totally different of course.

Jet2 are ramping up and getting quite a credible competitor in many of MON's airports and certainly now in the London area (STN) too -
a fleet of 60 a/c being renewed as well

The Jet 2 brand and Jet2 name is improving steadily and healthly - I think they are gaining much steam as the big player behind TUI and TCX in the IT market with Jet2 holidays as well as the seat only sales.

Monarch's family owned holiday brand Cosmos was not part of the greybull deal,
the Cosmos name and brand was good since 1961 along with sister company Globus (both of which the family still own)
- with Monarch doing the flying for Cosmos from 1968 until 2015 when ties were dropped


Monarch Holidays website is dire and looks messy - where do you start...

not digging at MON (i used to work for them at LGW - great times) but where are they going ?

the family had that with Cosmos and Monarch from 1968...

but sadly airlines and tour companies now reap only what they sewed - they all dismantled the holiday package bit by bit and you ended up with the Lo-Co carriers sweeping the board with the once IT charter reliant carriers foundering one by one trying to keep up - read Monarch here still treading water as the only one left
- now the nice bits (bags meals reserved seats transfers) are difficult to put back cost wise

Now, folk maybe are turning back to wanting a full package deal especially with the state of the currencies v the £ now which show no sign of improvements

BTW there is no niche UK charter carrier left now - not one - Titan airways picks up bits and bobs like Cunard cruise charters and Corsican places to calvi and Figari plus some ski flights in winter

BA has a massive weekend charter programme form LHR to many Greek Islands Corsica and Sardinia plus Cunard cruise charters
also from the regionals EDI ABZ IOM HUM and GLA using BACF EMB a/c

small planet germania volotea and enter air plus some french and Turkish outfits seem to be picking up niche IT work past few years from both regionals and London

So the long haul/feeder tie ups between EasyJet, Norwegian and West Jet, a missed opportunity for Monarch to use their expansion fleet?
Guess now, even if Monarch do announce long haul they won't stand a cat in hells chance of making it work?
Where do they go now?
Who do they tie up with if anyone?

Keep an eye out for some possible news shortly.

Vueling?
 

Vueling could be a possible link up if they are in a position to and looking to expand their networks.

Vueling are pulling back from the regions !
Monarch and Norwegian is more likely - agreed watch this space

I think it's around now when new routes tend to be announced? I heard a rumour about a new route to Zagreb from Birmingham. Let's hope it's some good news.

Monarch
 

Good or bad news?

Given who has posted it i'd guess they are salivating at the prospect of someone losing their job....So my money's on bad , If of course there is any substance to the report of "news"....

Zagreb is already operating I think?

It be good news for a change ��

I'm not salivating at anything... As of the moment, no 'news'.

So just because someone has said there's going to be an announcement, you all start speculating about it being bad. I do hope for the Monarch employees it's not bad. From what I have heard it sounds like they have a group of great employees who all seem to enjoy working together. Not many other companies have that (mine included). I wish them well

I suspect toledoashley is talking complete boloxs...

As Monarch are advertising for Cabin Crew at most bases and inviting candidates for interview then I doubt whether they would waste money on hotel accommodation if it was bad news.

No, I have heard (from a good source) there is some movement going on behind the scenes, but what outcome that will have I don’t know.

Good source being someone who works there?

Supposedly 2 announcements , one small one and a significant second one .
Rumours where it was supposed to be revealed on Thursday.... part of me believes that #savetheday will happen again !
Lots of hype (people think it's LH) but I reckon it will be as average as a new route announced e.g...

It isn't inconceivable that Monarch would go back into long haul. They have the MAX aircraft arriving in 2018, 3 of there bases have little or no long haul competition BHX,LTN and LBA. I can't see it being that hard for them to lease wide body aircraft or even wet lease until they can get there own. There is even the potential for them to expand it to other airports like EDI or CWL.