Passenger rescue operation continues today
Shock decision leaves 110,000 stranded
AN “UNPRECEDENTED” operation to bring more than 100,000 stranded air passengers back to the UK is due to continue today after the collapse of Monarch Airlines resulted in almost 2,000 immediate job losses.
Administrators KPMG last night confirmed that 1,858 of around 2,100 airline and tour group staff had been made redundant, although it was unclear how many worked in Yorkshire.
The remaining staff will help with the administration process and assist the Civil Aviation Authority in what was described by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling as the country’s “biggest ever peacetime repatriation”.
It will see around 110,000 Monarch passengers flown home to the UK on specially chartered flights in the next fortnight.
Mr Grayling said passengers would otherwise have been stranded abroad, adding: “This is an unprecedented response to an unprecedented situation.”
A further three quarters of a million people held future bookings with the firm, which was the UK’s fifth largest air carrier.
Administrator Blair Nimmo said Monarch had struggled with mounting costs and competitive market conditions that saw it suffer a period of sustained losses.
Aviation Minister Lord Callanan, who met repatriated passengers at Leeds Bradford Airport yesterday, said the Government had known the airline might collapse but “ultimately their financial health is a matter for them and their directors”.
He said: “It’s very tragic in terms of people who’ve lost their jobs. We’re doing all we can to find them alternative employment.”
HOLIDAY PLANS and family celebrations were thrown into chaos yesterday morning as it emerged that airline Monarch had collapsed, taking with it the jobs of about 2,000 people.
Passengers due to board outbound flights were turned away from airports, while the Civil Aviation Authority announced plans for how it would get 110,000 people already overseas back home .
Within hours, staff at the airline’s headquarters were seen carrying belongings out of the building and hugging one another in the car park as they left. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) chief executive Andrew Haines said the regulator had been notified by Monarch four and a half weeks ago that “there were issues they were dealing with”.
He said: “Unfortunately we didn’t get final confirmation until 4am this morning and my understanding is that the board resolution to go into administration didn’t take place until close to midnight on Saturday night.”
Monarch was still advertising flights on its website on Sunday, meaning some passengers may have booked trips even after the company’s bosses decided it would stop trading. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “This is a hugely distressing situation for British holidaymakers abroad and my first priority is to help them get back to the UK.
“That is why I have immediately ordered the country’s biggest ever peacetime repatriation to fly about 110,000 passengers who could otherwise have been left stranded abroad.”
The CAA has secured 34 aircraft from 16 different airlines to run a programme of repatriation flights over the next fortnight.
Aviation Minister Lord Callanan was at Leeds Bradford Airport yesterday when it received its first rescue flight from Dalaman in Turkey, just slightly later than its scheduled time. “The people I spoke to were very positive, they thought the repatriation went very well,” he said. “We expected there might be some teething problems but, from what people tell me, it went well.”
Passenger William Boyce, from Hull, said the initial news about the airline’s collapse had been a shock but he did not think the CAA could have done much more in terms of its response.
The people thought the repatriation went very well. Aviation Minister Lord Callanan.
Anne Stocker, from Menston, near Ilkley, said: “There was a bit of a queue at Dalaman but, other than that, it’s all been fine.”
For Liverpool woman Ann Rowe, the main concern was that she had been due to fly to Manchester.
The Dalaman flight was followed shortly after by another from Italy, which arrived around two hours later than scheduled. Nick Page, 31, from Boston Spa, said: “It wasn’t bad. I’ve been in worse delays when it’s been the operating airline.”
He said a few people had been grumbling, but most were just glad that they could get home.
“I think everyone’s thoughts are with the people who woke up not having a job,” he added.
Leeds-Bradford was home to two of Monarch’s A320 aircraft, serving 10 destinations in Europe and Turkey. Leeds North West MP Alex Sobel (Labour) said he understood hundreds of people had worked for the airline there.
“The first two weeks it’s all about getting people home,” he said. “After that we need to look closely at ensuring everybody has got a job who had a job at Monarch, and ensuring Leeds Bradford Airport replace those flights, replace that loss of income, and this airport isn’t affected.”
Downing Street said Prime Minister Theresa May was determined to ensure passengers abroad were brought home, while support was available for the staff affected.
In a letter to staff, chief executive Andrew Swaffield said the “root cause” of the airline’s plunging revenues was terror attacks in Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the “decimation” of the tourist trade in Turkey.
Its engineering operation, Monarch Aircraft Engineering Limited, is not in administration and continues to trade normally.
IT CAN only be right that the immediate focus following the collapse of Monarch Airlines will be on what Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has called the “biggest peacetime repatriation” operation the UK has seen, as efforts are made to bring 110,000 passengers home from abroad in as timely a fashion as possible.
But it is important that a thorough and transparent examination of how this situation has occurred takes place. For the passengers already abroad, the situation is undoubtedly causing great anxiety and inconvenience, while it also means major disappointment for 750,000 people with future holidays booked. Worst of all, for more than 2,000 workers it means the loss of their livelihoods.
This situation has not come out of the blue; the company has been struggling financially for some time and the chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority Andrew Haines has revealed that Monarch notified his organisation a month ago that they were in trouble.
However, Mr Haines said that the Monarch board only made a resolution to go into administration around midnight on Saturday night, with the CAA, along with passengers and staff, only provided with confirmation at 4am yesterday morning.
Monarch has blamed its collapse on terror attacks in Egypt and Tunisia hitting trade, as well as the “decimation” of numbers going to Turkey. But there are also questions for the Government following claims ministers refused to provide a bridging loan to the company while it restructured the business around its long-haul operations. Customers and staff deserve a full explanation.