per BBC News website

I dont understand that one. What IAG carrier currently or would want to forgo their Airbus fleet with 40 more already on order/pending?

Simon Calder damning report re Monarch in today's Independent (sorry cannot provide link) saying they have upped every flight price by +£100 overnight.

Being reported in the last hour by Simon Calder in the Independent that MON effectively halted ticket sales overnight using the methodology of quadrupling prices...

The Independent have reported ticket sales have been effectively stopped. My check just now seems to confirm that - lowest return fare to Stockholm for example in November is £250.

Forgetting about what's on order the current fleet of A320/1's would fit into IAG very well I wouldn't rule anything out just yet as I have it on good authority that the Qatar aircraft that have been secured as repatriation flights were organised by/through BA now this could be nothing more than BA having had a recent relationship with Qatar regarding getting aircraft quickly and the CAA used BA to go through them in securing the aircraft or it could be more.

From the independent


As thousands of Monarch passengers fly to Spain, Portugal, Greece and beyond, the beleaguered airline has effectively stopped selling tickets.

Test bookings made on Saturday night by The Independent found thousands of seats on routes such as Gatwick-Malaga, Birmingham-Barcelona and Manchester-Stockholm on sale for £32 one-way. But this morning the minimum price for any outbound Monarch flight has risen by £100.

On Wednesday 11 October, the fare on the benchmark Gatwick-Barcelona route is £132 on Monarch — four times the prevailing fare on easyJet, Norwegian and Vueling.

Isn’t the focus on the ATOL thing a bit of a red herring ? AFAIK the reason they can’t renew the ATOL is that the business has no money to pay the bond .
The entire business has no money , this is just a symptom.

Deck chairs / Titanic ?

Tickets from Malaga and GiB to Luton next week seem to be OK. Oh dear what a sorry mess. Messrs Hodgson and Peacock, the founders, must be turning in their graves at this shambles.

Don`t shoot the bearers all is for the record & passing on what is in the public domain....
Daily Mail now reporting the CAA are saying decision by 4PM today...in an otherwise very gloomy article concerning the outlook..

Either that, or they are consoling themselves with the thought that they founded one of the very few UK airlines to have lasted 50 years.

Very sad if Monarch does close after, what - 50 years or so ?

But can't help comparing to the Air Berlin mess, who are already bankrupt but being kept alive by the German Government ( seemingly against EU regulations, but that's for another thread ) until an orderly wind-up can be put into place to avoid mass redundancies and an even bigger financial loss.

Why can't the UK Government do something similar for Monarch's employees and passengers ?

I'm not sure about that, £246 this week on ZB or £87 with EZY for same dates

probably because the UK has a very long history of airlines going bust...... the world goes on and there's no votes in it

As all the focus is on the ATOL protection for the holiday aspects of the Monarch business (only 5% of the business from what I’ve read) what are the implications for the (presumably) majority of Monarch customers booked on ‘ticket/flight only’ flights? If the ATOL/Holiday licence isn’t renewed at 1600 today, will that ground the whole airline? At post 238 above AndrewH52 implies not.....

I appreciate that the short-haul element is running at a loss, but will the airline continue to operate while the search goes on for a buyer, who - equally presumably – wants to see the operation go as close to wall as possible so that they pick the pieces at a knock-down price?

The issue concerning the ATOL licence has been covered in the "nationals"...& essentially the withdrawing of the licence in this instance is not in itself fatal as it does as you quote only cover 5% of the business...what it does do is lead v quickly is a loss of confidence from suppliers who withdraw logistical support or demand cash up front,that a lot of the time is the fatal element for airline ops...

If ATOL not renewed by CAA then although Monarch Holidays are only a small part of the Monarch Group the question of Monarch credibility will arise. Once credibility questioned bookings are effected, press headlines refer to Monarch, suppliers etc etc start worrying and the knock-on of a problem with the Holiday division accelerates to form a group/holding problem.

Through the CAA managed ATOL scheme one could say the Govt is looking after some of the pax. However, those travelling independently may have to find there own way home.

Do we know how many aircraft are at each base?

That, combined with the fact that the aforesaid 5% (or more) of the future bookings that they are sitting on would have to be refunded, requiring a large pot of cash that Monarch probably haven't got.