Appeal over runway slots

Administrators for failed airline Monarch have launched an appeal over “valuable” runway slots.

The airline, which went into administration last month, wants to exchange the slots with other carriers to raise cash for creditors, but last week the High Court ruled against it.

At the start of a hearing at the Court of Appeal yesterday, the administrators were given permission to challenge that decision by Lord Justice Floyd, Lord Justice Newey and Lady Justice Asplin. The court is now hearing submissions but it is unclear whether there will be an immediate decision.

The collapse of Monarch, which was owned by private-equity firm Greybull Capital, led to 1,858 job losses, and the flights and holidays of about 860,000 people being cancelled.

At the heart of the

“ACL has no power to refuse to allocate these slots”

judicial review action by Monarch Airlines Ltd (MAL) is a decision by Airport Co-ordination Ltd (ACL) not to allocate certain take-off and landing slots to the airline for the summer 2018 season.

The High Court heard argument from Monarch’s administrators that, if received, those slots would represent its “most valuable asset” which it would seek to exchange with other airlines “to realise value for its creditors”.

A QC argued the approach taken by ACL was unlawful, adding: “ACL has no lawful power to refuse to allocate these slots or to reserve them pending determination of proposals to revoke or suspend MAL’s operating licence.” The judges rejected Monarch’s claim that ACL was under a duty to allocate summer 2018 slots to Monarch “by reason of historical precedence”.