I thought that Ryanair had a UK AOC when they bought BUZZ I might be wrong
I'm sure Ryanair UK LTD have a UK AOC.

Even if they didnt it wouldnt take long to get.
They will get it within 2 years just need to look at DY and see how many AOC they have??
Think its all scare mongering at the minute.......

If they are sold I really hope they are kept in operation, I'd love to see the Dart Group buy them and operate them as a southern subsidiary, they could consolidate LBA and most of MAN into Jet2 ops, expand at BHX, LGW, LTN etc. and could look at other bases with any surplus aircraft, ABZ, BRS, DSA spring to mind. Even somewhere like IOM might be able to support 1 aircraft if LS and MON were both absorbed into jet2holidays

So essentially it would be 2 airlines, owned by the same company, operating in different markets with as little overlap as possible (except maybe at MAN where they could probably continue operating side by side 70/30 LS/MON to increase capacity), both retaining their identity and flight only side of the business but Monarch flights incorporated into Jet2holidays bookings.

I reckon that would massively boost Jet2, Monarch and Dart group, and the new 737 MAX's would fit into LS's new fleet of 738's

Just an idea but it would be great to see

The two operations are near enough identical. Monarch Airlines serves as a carrier for Monarch Holidays, which was Cosmos until last year when they changed name. In fact Cosmos, which was running tours as from 1961 was the forerunner of Monarch Airlines which was formed in 1968 to carry Cosmos clients/passengers. JET2 was first an airline and formed JET2 Holidays later but they are a similar operation to the Monarch Group. The purchase of the Monarch Group by the Dart Group would be a perfect hand in glove acquisition, where as you say, Monarch could continue to operate from Manchester and the South of the UK, as the corporate name is well known both as an airline and as a tour operation, giving the Dart Group an immediate opening in the South of England where the JET2 brand is relatively unknown.

On the other hand the B737MAX order sounds as if it comes with a big price tag, whereas the 30 x B738NG order was probably settled at better prices than Ryanair’s big order. The reasoning behind this is that JET2 are taking the slack of cancelled orders of the NG and as a result Boeing can keep the NG production line operationa until they switch over to producing the MAX. The chances are that more cancellations of the NG will come about and JET2 could well take on the special offers or continue buying second hand NGs, as and when required.

Reality check -

Could Dart Group afford what Greybull want to charge?

Its an investment which could really work out well for LS if they did it properly. The opportunities are endless, for the charter market. Keeping the airlines as separate entities but merging back of house operations to cut cost could work. If you were to merge it all into LS operations, then plenty of new destinations are available to them, but they loose a strong and trusted brand.
Personally I would love to see them kept as separate entities with a few crossovers. i.e. BOH operations merged etc, along with ground handling done by LS own staff.

Can't see dart group wanting them even if they could afford it.
Only value part of monarch is the gatwick slots it holds.
Highest bidder please more likely be easyjet or Norweign as already stated.

However maybe IAG group may want it due to the slots and the increase in BA lately at gatwick?

Monarch isnt up for sale, dont believe what you read in the paper but by all means lets carry on playing fantasy airline takeovers / mergers lol

If IAG brought Monarch I think it would be absorbed into Fueling to further increase their market presence into the UK.

Jet2 could be the other target for Ryanair! Interesting times ahead I think.

They are being sold to Norwegian by all accounts

Where is that info coming from about Norwegian buying them

Was surprised by the "after only 17 months" in the paper yesterday.

When I worked with vulture capitalists I always worked on the basis that they would want a return on investment within 3 years - often via a sale after restructuring etc. So starting to look at off loading now is perfectly normal.

Sale to Norwegian would work well for them- gives them good access to Gatwick- what they want to nibble away at Easy and for long haul, BA and Virgin. They could consolidate at Birmingham, establish at Manchester and doubt they would bother with Luton - where Vueling would expand or Easy consolidate or Leeds.

Monarch engineering do a fair bit of maintenance work for norwegian at present i believe

Grey bull are not venture capitalists. They are a private equity company.

There is a big difference.

"Oversee expansion" .....Who are they trying to kid ?

Cant Monarch expand? Norwegian buying Monarch? Lol galley fm has been busy today.

Agree. Let's not let facts get in the way of a good story!

Facts are Monarch are up for grabs .......

All companies are for sale - if the offer is right. Can't help thinking that on the back of one newspaper article this is all becoming a little bit silly - and as usual, such silliness is potentially causing employees angst; and even worse, possibly putting their jobs at risk.

I wonder, how many of the posters suggesting this, that or the other company is buying Monarch actually work for them, and even better have factual information that is not in the public domain. I certainly don't and a can see a fair few others that I'm pretty sure aren't either - naming no names.