UK’S biggest airline goes bust: 1 lakh left stranded

LONDON: The UK’S low-cost carrier Monarch Airlines collapsed on Monday, forcing the government to launch one of the biggest peacetime repatriation operations to bring back nearly 110,000 passengers stranded abroad.

The country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it had been asked by the government to charter more than 30 aircraft to bring home stranded passengers after all Monarch flights were cancelled, affecting as many as 300,000 future bookings.

The airlines went into administration in the early hours of Monday, with KPMG being appointed to oversee the financial chaos.

“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,” said UK transport secretary Chris Grayling.

“This is an unprecedented response to an unprecedented situation. Together with the CAA, we will work around the clock to ensure Monarch passengers get the support they need,” he said.

The minister has warned of the size of the challenge, urging passengers to be “patient” as they would be flown back home from abroad.

Monarch is the UK’S fifth biggest airline, employing around 2,700 people.

It reported a loss of 291 million pounds last year and was placed in administration at 4 am local time when there were no Monarch planes in the air.

Chief Executive Andrew Swaffield blamed the collapse on terror attacks that had affected the budget carrier’s revenues.

In a letter to the staff, he said the airline was badly affected by the 2015 bombing of a Russian plane which departed from Sharm el-sheikh in Egypt, a terror attack in Sousse, Tunisia, during the same year which left 30 dead and a 2016 attempted coup in Turkey.

“It has been a company that has cared for its customers and which has been like a family for many people for five decades. I cannot tell you how much I wanted to avoid this outcome and how truly sorry I am,” he says in his letter.