Speculation over:

“I am delighted that we have been able to come to an agreement with the CAA on the extension of Monarch’s ATOL licence and am excited about the additional capital coming into the group which will help us fund our future growth. I am immensely proud of the professionalism of the Monarch team.”

It's fanstastic news for all concerned, especially the employees.

Monarch reaches ATOL licence agreement and secures funding - Monarch Blog

Does look good but are they just kicking the can down the street?

Fab ✈️✈️✈️👍🍺🍺

Great news ....hope those at Monarch can enjoy their weekend ;) after a tough couple of weeks.

A bit of confusion by the sounds of things - they are now going back on it and saying it is just an extension.

This is very far from over.

“The CAA has granted Monarch a 12 day extension to its existing ATOL licences. The extended licences will now expire at 23:59 on 12 October 2016.

“The CAA was able to do this by requiring the shareholder to provide additional funding and because customers' money will be protected.

“Monarch now has 12 days to satisfy the CAA that the group is able to meet the requirements for a full ATOL licence.

“Monarch will remain ATOL licensed until this extension expires.

“The CAA always advises consumers to ensure they book ATOL-protected air holidays and consumers who choose to book an ATOL-protected flight or holiday with the company during this time will continue to be protected by the ATOL scheme.

“During this period of extension, the CAA will continue to monitor the company.”

Very good news, there will be some very relieved families tonight. I do hope Monarch can get the funding in and I have no doubt it will continue to be a difficult road, but for now lets all be happy with the news and one of Britains oldest established Airline continues to fly :D:ok:

The announcement on their website says it's an extension, and it's still great news. The CAA wouldn't have granted it if they weren't pretty damn sure that the investment was forthcoming.

Fantastic news lets hope they get some decent investment

Very good news good news for employees

Breaking News
Monarch reaches Atol agreement

And now the best news of all!

Budget airline Monarch has received an extension to its licence to operate, the company has announced.
It also said it had received "significant" further investment and was close to announcing the biggest investment in its 48-year history.
The news came just ahead of a midnight deadline for the renewal of its Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licence .
Last weekend Monarch was forced to deny "negative speculation" about its financial health.
On Saturday Monarch is due to operate 133 outbound and inbound flights, and passengers have been expressing their concerns about what was going to happen on social media.
The airline employs around 2,800 staff and is based at Luton Airport.
Monarch is protected by the CAA's Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol) scheme - the scheme that refunds customers if a travel firm collapses, and ensures they are not stranded.
But for the licence to be renewed, allowing it to continue to trade, the airline had to prove that it was financially robust.
Monarch has been majority-owned by Greybull Capital since 2014, when the investment firm bought a 90% stake in the airline.
Greybull also bought a division of Tata Steel this year, as well as 140 M Local convenience stores from Morrisons, which subsequently went into administration.

Travel Weekly understands the airline has been granted a two-week extension.

Great news for the employees & customers - disgraceful they were ever put through this.

The Monarch press release talks about extending the ATOL license, which I took to mean for 12 months. The CAA talks of only 12 days however.

It seems Greybull coughed up with a full 4 hours to spare, and hopefully new backers and a new management team will come on board to professionalise this shambles.

Fantastic news! Just brilliant!

Beware, this is what the CAA say in the media release:


“The CAA has granted Monarch a 12 day extension to its existing ATOL licences. The extended licences will now expire at 23:59 on 12 October 2016.
“The CAA was able to do this by requiring the shareholder to provide additional funding and because customers' money will be protected.
“Monarch now has 12 days to satisfy the CAA that the group is able to meet the requirements for a full ATOL licence.
“Monarch will remain ATOL licensed until this extension expires.
“The CAA always advises consumers to ensure they book ATOL-protected air holidays and consumers who choose to book an ATOL-protected flight or holiday with the company during this time will continue to be protected by the ATOL scheme.
“During this period of extension, the CAA will continue to monitor the company.”


https://www.caa.co.uk/News/CAA-state...ptember-2016)/


It is not new ATOL, it is an extension of the existing one.

Good news ,This is going to cause bitter disappointment to one or two on here...Wonder whos putting the cash in apart from greybull

Greybull are putting in the emergency interim funding now, with the bigger fundraising still to be confirmed hence the 2 week only extension.

It's great news for the staff, but Greybull could have done this weeks ago.

Rumour its a new investor putting in the extra investment

OK, extension granted, let's assume that the licence will be renewed eventually.

Now, what does the future hold? Not very rosy expectations on UK package holidays (brexit, GBP x-rate, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, ISIS, you name it); fuel price most probably up after the recent developments; rather pricey type change to the 737 (trainings, double spare stock etc); fierce competition from other LoCos. What will be the selling point of Monarch if things did not work out in recent "better" times?

could be certain swiss investors moving back in ... not that I believe in conspiracy theories........

If a new trade investor comes in, it can only get much better .

The current shambles brought it 4 hours hours away from disaster, so a new shareholder base and management team can only improve it.

Indeed it is, but without a high level of satisfaction that the new finance deal will be got across the line and with multiple aircraft on standby to repatriate, I think its highly unlikely that such an extension would have been granted, don`t you agree?

How is a 12 day extension 'fantastic news'? It's good news yes, but is it a stay of execution or a real commitment by Greybull? I really hope Monarch survive but this limbo status is not helping anyone whether they be consumer or employee.

I take it you've never been told you're terminal? Any lifeline is fantastic. Do you really think the CAA would have granted another extension if they didn't think that the investment needed wasn't forthcoming?

On the one hand, this is good news all round. I've been through the redundancy thing and had a prolonged period out of work - I know it's not fun.
However this is a heavily regulated company for which safety is critical and which relies on consumer long term confidence to pay up front on a non-refundable basis for a service they will receive in several months time.

Maybe Greybull is the right owner to do major surgery on the company, but the whole set up right now leaves me feeling distinctly uneasy about the long term direction of Monarch. When hedge funds are cutting deals, you can be certain that asset stripping or taking large dividends out of the company in the short term will be on the agenda - long term investment in staff will be low on the priority list

The fact they've got an extension suggests the CAA has a degree of confidence about their financial stability going forward. With promises of major investment due to be announced let's hope they're heading into a happier place.

I know there's no room for sentiment in aviation but I've got a huge spot for
Monarch. They're one of the airlines I grew up with. They started at Luton in the year I was born and I've seen them in all their guises, from the Britannia's, Boeing 720's & BAC1-11's of the early fleets to the Airbuses of today.

Good luck to all at Monarch. Long may they remain!!

Great to hear Monarch is potentially on the verge of getting another truck load of money to burn, for the next year or two.

I'm sure they'll have another business plan in place, to make things better. 😂

While Sky News, mentions the investment, it is barely a positive news report to quash passengers worry...

http://news.sky.com/story/monarch-airlines-handed-reprieve-to-fly-package-holidays-10600155

Everyone needed this to happen and not least government .

Let's get the new serious funding done, and a new team in place , and move on, as the brand has taken a massive hit . Equally the latest press release by monarch is not entirely clear , but I'd expect nothing more from the cow boys.

The caa should have a degree of comfort for this big funding, but it must have been close given only 4 hours left .

Mentions some of the new funds might be used for "an order for 30 Boeing aircraft".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37524259

seems odd spending money on new planes if they're short of cash

If someone books a 14 day holiday with Monarch today, are you not covered by ATOL for the last two days? If not who would book to go on holiday now?

Any news on who the other investor is and I wonder whats behind it all? Ploughing huge amounts into a airline that clearly has a fight on its hands in a very competive market is not a decision i imagine is taken lightly

They must see some opportunities in buying in .

You are ATOL protected at the time of booking.

Yes it is intriguing who the new investor(s) might be but whoever they are, there will have to be significant investment and they will have to be committed to the airline's long term future.

Despite the fact Monarch has been scraping along the bottom for the last 2 years, it has a good brand, the oldest AOC, ETOPS approval, desirable slots, well trained crews and world class aircraft engineering. Apparently management has always been patchy but hopefully the not so capable will move on and leave those only competent in charge. Despite what some say here, I understand that Andrew Swaffield is one of the more capable at Monarch - his record is quite impressive at other companies.

However the fact remains, Monarch nearly went bust but thankfully they didn't and hopefully this is the dawn of a new era.

A I understand, a holiday comany covered by ATOL has bookings protected when they are made, so a 2017 booking made up to 12th October will be covered (but Worth checking before you book).

It is still not obvious to me why some people seem to be mixing Monarch holidays with Monarch airline. If the claim is correct that there are 100000 holidaymakers currently on site, and there are 133 flights per day (presumably return flights) then around 4 days of return flying is needed for the Monarch fleet. This could suggest that over 50% of seats are actually for the Holidays arm, which is way above numbers I have seen elsewhere, and would suggest that the transition from IT to scheduled airline has not progressed as rapidly as some thought. I actually believe that the 100000 above may include traveller on other Airlines or with other Holiday companies suggestig that a higher percentage of seats are airline only.

As regards investors, from what I have read, there are only two, Greybull and the pension fund, so presumably addtional "current investors" money must have come from these two. However, are their investments in Monarch Holdings or split between the different parts of Monarch. Will the new investor replace one or other or be in addition to them.

Finally as the entire Monarch fleet is currently leased I would expect the 737s to be also, even if they are currently shown as an order for which commitment payments have probably been made. One way to release funds is to do some form of lease deal which could involve the lessor (or financier) making any future payments up to delivery. That said, the aircraft are for Monarch airline, not the Holiday company.

I would imagine Monarch engineering is a very attractive part of the project to invest in.

Ive heard it may be the company who own Hainan airways, However thsts only hearsay