From Travel Weekly,

Monarch reports losses of £290m as it reviews business model
by Amie Keeley Aug 11th 2017, 16:23
Monarch reports losses of £290m as it reviews business model
Monarch Airlines has reported pre-tax losses of £291 million following a spate of terrorist attacks and Britain’s vote to leave the EU slowed demand.

In its latest accounts filed on Companies House, the group also reveals it is “reviewing the current business model” to establish what the “size and shape of the airline should be going forward”.

Financial statement for the year ending October 21 2016, show the company made a pre-tax profit of £12.9 million, compared to £39.3 million the previous year.

Total revenue stood at £558 million, compared with £655 million in 2015.

The report cites a “number of trading headwinds” during the year which have impacted revenue, bookings and load factor, including the continued closure of Sharm El Shiekh airport, terrorist incidents in Turkey and the EU Referendum which resulted in “depressed bookings” and the devaluation of the Pound.

The airline will take delivery of its first Boeing 737 aircraft in March 2018 which it says will “significantly improve the underlying economics of the business” due to being more fuel efficient and requiring less maintenance.

Monarch received a £165 million cash injection from majority shareholders Greybull Capital last October after coming close to failure.

The lifeline convinced the CAA to renew its Air Travel Operators’ Licence (Atol) until this September.

The travel weekly article is very badly written . A quick search for the accounts will easily show what has been filed with Companies House. The airline has decided to put all the fleet changeover costs into the accounts , hence the poor figures.

It's going to take 3-5 years for the new fleet to bed in and before Monarch sees the gains of fuel efficiency and less maintenance. The fleet today is hardly what is considered to be "old".

Equally, Grey Bull have termed the sale and leaseback of their new aircraft an "investment" and "cash injection". Compared to last year, all that has happened is Boeing have been guaranteed they won't have surplus 737-Max lying around. The market is saturated with Jet2 and Norwegian now flying to the same destinations that EasyJet stole almost a decade ago now. One of these legacy charters needs to be swallowed up in order to survive. Resistance is a bit futile.

I would consider a couple of 15 year old air buses old.
Even emirates faced an 80% drop in profits in 2016-17 ,
Greybull could easily walk away from Monarch , i believe that HNA offered them over 600 million for the business in 2015 but they refused . Supposedly they will carry out the sale and lease back (profit for them) and post brexit sell the to the Chinese

Although I believe there is a future for Monarch I think it's foolish to believe it's going to be Easy. And as for a 600 million pound valuation I think that's a bad case of Chinese wishpers. NHA are no fools, they are unlikely to buy something for £600 million that was sold for £1 a few years ago and is loosing money. At best it's only marginally profitable and looking back over the years it's lost billions, I think someone will want the airline but wether anyone offers an amount to keep Greybull happy that's a different question and what happens if no one does? (That's the very question that gave me sleepless nights and the reason I left).

I believe that throughout most of Monarchs history it has been loosing money or just turned a marginal profit,
But we still bumble along with decent T&Cs
With backers such as Boeing I believe that I am in a stable place which many would love to see fail .
But I'm sorry boys it looks like we are still here and have an optimistic future with LH on the horizon and a significant expansion on the cards . Some guys that left to go to the supposedly stronger airlines such as BA and Easy have returned with the knowledge that the grass most definitely is not greener !
I would prefer to enjoy my job and have a dark cloud over my head which btw hasn't rained for many many years (ever infact)! Than to slog it out at an airline where everyone believes that because they have 300 aircraft and make over a billion proof they are in a safe place ? I'm sorry chaps but even though your airlines make billions in profit they don't give a monkeys about your T&Cs or your future , you are just a number in a machine

So what would HNA get for their £600 million?

Quality and Standards

Just what every Airline share holder is desparate for.

Premium slots , streamlined airline , new fleet on the way , Boeing gold standard engineering , the Monarch brand (50 years old) .....

You either have a very short memory, not been in Monarch long or have extreamly thick rose tinted glasses. Monarch are a good company to work for and it's a nice job. But don't kid yourself they are somehow special or saintly, not that long ago they made several hundred people redundant, slashed pay, forced part year working on people and ditached a pension fund that cost some employees hundreds of thousands possibly millions of pounds.

In the past Monarch we not designed to make money, the business served other purposes, those days are gone and grey bull are in, make no bones about it they are as ruthless as anyone in the business if Monarch fails them they will drop it in seconds.

I admire your confidence in Monarch but I am guessing you don't have a lot of experience of being an unemployed F/O. It has happened to me 3 times and each time I lost a year of my life desparatly searching for that new job. Once out of the system you will quickly see the contempt Airlines hold for DE FOs, they are only interested in cut priced cadets. Whilst it was annoying at the time it was not critical to my life but now I would loose my home and probably my family so living under that dark cloud is not an option.

I in no way want Monarch to fail, I hold them in my mind with great fondness and have many friends still there, but I don't think being total dismissive of their difficulties will be helpful to you or anyone else.

Enzo
I understand that it must be horrendous to be unemployed as an FO ,
I have been in Monarch for nearly 6 years and I am in the command process ,
I believe that no flight crew have been made redundant ever in Monarch .
Yes the pay has changed but what airline hasn't ? At least it's still pretty good for the work involved
Yes they screwed some guys pensions but they are getting a cheeky backhand of 10s of thousands a year apparently (all gone very quiet anyway )

I believe you left Monarch for BA SH ? Maybe you should have stayed and got a command ?
I have a young family and would choose Monarch every day over BA

Discussing Monarch's fortunes seems to be a hardy perennial and all the usual suspects emerge into the light! :p

I personally think Monarch will be fine, in what guise remains the enduring question!

Snapper5, I think I have worked out who you are! ;)

You have been in 6 years and you can say this.... where have you been? Yes, they have made many flight crew redundant in your time and they bloody nearly made everyone so at one point. Those rose tinted glasses are working so so well.

Snapper5, being one of those who was screwed over on my pension, salary, carreer and lifestyle and have had no 'backhanders' as you put it, I tend to agree with Enzo999's view.

First flight deck redundancies were 1994.

Snapper5 if you are referring to Oct 2014- Jan 2015 many people jumped ship voluntarily (my self included) and by voluntarily I mean i along with many others were in the 140+ at risk of losing there job and couldn't have got by on the forced part-time. If all those that left to BA / EK / EASY / Air Tanker hadn't there would have without doubt been forced redundancies. Those people that sought alternative employment saved other peoples jobs at Monarch.

You might well be right on some of what you say, I could have possibly been better off staying at Mon and taking command, especially seeing as the command time at BA has rocketed again, but it's a choice you have to make based on risk and reward. I always felt the worst that could happen if I join BA is that I get stuck as an FO for 10 years, but with yearly increments and a decent pension that was not the end of the world, on the other hand the worst case scenario at Monarch was rather more devistating, so I took the safe option. Maybe you have a very different attitude towards risk than me and all being well you will never need to lower yourself to the levels of BA.

On some of your other points Mon have most defiantly made pilots redundant, I still have my letter stating my finishing date and pay off, it's not something I will forget in a hurry seeing as I received it the same day my children were born!

I don't blame anyone for gamely hanging on in there with Mon because whilst it lasts it's a good gig, but you can't just irgnore all the press and facts because the dont suit you. It is very clear that Monarch's finacial health is poor at best and is not really improving. Trading conditions remain bad, their cost base is still high (espically with your salary level), customer confidence is low, the dollar exchange is bad, the Boeings won't save anything the fuel saving will just be off set by the increased lease costs, there seems to be another restructure in the pipe line, they can't get credit, and so it goes on and on. I am not saying they will go bust tomorrow or even at all but it seems fairy reckless to state that everything is hunky dory when it clearly has major challenges ahead.

I'm not sure of the point of hammering on at someone to convince them that their company is facing uncertainty or xyz company someone left for is sheep dung. All a bit snipey.

If someone wants to believe they're sorted (if they are or if they are not misguided) and in a better position than others let them, if they're happy. Just worry about your own. I can't run my own life let alone worry about others. This game sucks hairy balls. We're all frogs on our own slowly decaying Lilly pads in a pond that's getting a little bit more rank by the year.

Monarch can clearly not compete with EasyJet and Ryanair. This much we've known for years. Now however, it must contend with Norwegian and Jet2. Thomson and Thomas Cook have an expanding LH programme whereas Monarch ditched it all. If LH is now back on the table at Monarch, that's good but it's too little too late. Monarch is entering a phase of fleet renewal that is justified by fuel/maintenance savings but everyone outside of Monarch can see it was the fleet renewal that has given Monarch a life line (money created out of thin air). The anticipated savings are not going to be seen for a long time. In summary, Monarch (like others) can't compete with the low co airlines and doesn't have a back up plan either (in terms of LH or winter sun destinations). I remember pushing back at Birmingham in January this year (2017) and seeing no less than 6 Monarch frames parked up with doors closed whilst my airline had 3 departures that morning to winter sun destinations. It looked like the company wasn't even trying to fill those planes.

Interesting PPRuNe handle you have! :rolleyes:

Lots of opinions expressed by you and others but not necessarily factual! Only a few people in the know have the facts and you as an outsider to the company will not be one of them!

On social and news media facts are often hard to identify, lots of sound bites and snippets of data simplified and rehashed for quick digestion which often leads to over simplification or worse total misreading of events. As always the devil lives in the detail, which you and the vast majority of others do not have!

For some reason when the opportunity arises, Monarch gets a kicking which on the face of it seems unjustified!

http://news.sky.com/story/british-steel-rescuer-greybull-eyes-swoop-on-ailing-alitalia-10988654

Interesting

Have they got deeper pockets than Etihad ?

Well said Cliff Secord.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/285633/monarch-chief-ascribes-companys-losses-to-aircraft-write-off

Does anyone have any info in regards to the sim assessment and what can be expected? Asking for a 737 rated friend.

Does the 737-MAX require additional training or will it be covered by an existing B737 type rating?

Norwegian to buy Monarch
 

News are floating in Norwegian (the country that is) press that Norwegian (the airline) are looking to buy Monarch or parts of. Any of you Monarch guys hear anything about it?

Two turkeys don’t make an eagle.

It is top news in Bolton.Norwegian Air eyes Monarch Airlines deal, sources say (From The Bolton News)

I wonder how that will affect the people who recently applied for the B737 jobs at Monarch. Perhaps by the end of the interview process they'll be flying for Norwegian instead.

Does Norwegian have the cash to purchase Monarch?
Or will they be adding to the debt sheet again....

Statoil and the Norwegian Government have deep pockets.