Order
 

New MD starts 01/04/14 (tomorrow) .... maybe waiting so he can make the announcement.

60 aircraft order on April Fool's day? They could be a better day to announce it...

Monarch are in a league of their own when it comes to engineering.

CabinCrewe, don't forget the 5xA350 order.:D
Long haul product needs a revamp !

Long Haul
 

It really does, awful compared to the competition - a 29-30" pitch and 9 abreast seating on an A330 must be torture on a 9-10 hour flight. Oh and did I mention there is no ife? In fact their premium product is on par with the latest TOM/TCX economy products! I know long haul has not been much of a focus for Monarch recently but surely a cabin refresh and the removal of a couple of rows of seats could help them compete with TCX/TOM a little better.

The dont really need to compete. Their long haul flights are essentially full and if people are still paying and using it, why do they need to invest in an expensive upgrade ? (MON are often some of the cheapest flight only deals to Florida). I certainly wouldn't touch it, but lots are.

The problem is that if you sit on your laurels someone will come along and steal your CROWN also a bad experience on a long haul flight will likely put you off a short haul flight, just being better than Ryanair is not good enough, Thomson & Norwegian and Jet2 on a good day are better in terms of comfort

Remember they cancelled the B787 then extended the time they were keeping the A332s. I think the focus on the moment is on sorting out short haul where the bulk of the losses came from, A300s and B757s going. There's no focus on long haul and they might step away entirely.

This is very true, those god awful hi-fly A340s were a huge let down for anyone looking for a new flame proof Norwegian B787.

For those who are interested, the flight from LBA on Saturday for that Ant & Dec show is on G-MONJ.

G-MONJ landed at BHX at 2100

CabinCrewe

If I'm not mistaken, the long haul programme is 100% charter, so it matters not whether the flights are full or not, since tour operators have paid for the seats anyway.

If the tour operators transfer their allegiance to another carrier, then that becomes a problem, unless the 330s can be be utilised on high density short haul ITs to the usual bucket and spade destinations instead.

Most of Monarch's long haul charters are for Cosmos aren't they? I.e. Not for a third party but the in-house tour operator

"flight only" have been previously bookable (not through the ZB scheduled arm), but that may or may not be linked with a tour operator such as Cosmos

Most charter flight-only are booked through Avro.

Last A300 flights
 

Does anyone know which flights the A300 will be operating between now and it's retirement on the 13th? Unfortunately it appears to be restricted to just SSH every other day :(

A300 Flights
 

This is what its down to do as things stand at the moment -

4/4 LGW - ACE - LGW
5/4 LGW - GNB - LGW x 2
6/4 LGW - FDH - LGW
6/4 LGW - GNB - LGW
8/4 LGW - SSH - LGW
11/4 LGW - FAO - LGW
12/4 LGW - GNB - LGW x 2
13/4 LGW - FDH - LGW
13/4 LGW - BHX - Final Commercial Flight

It has covered the odd short haul rotation for the 332's in the last couple of weeks so there possibly could be a few extra opportunities if things change.

Thank you very much alex321... Wish I hadn't put it off so long now :(

Anyone know where this one will be based most of the time?

BasilFawlty
 

After the last one entering service in June, the spare will be at BHX. :ok:

Thanks for the info!