Polo-playing boss who set up own firm as airline crumbled
THE former boss of Monarch set up his own company as the airline went into freefall, the Mail can reveal.
Andrew Swaffield, who told staff yesterday that he was ‘truly sorry’ it had gone bust, established a business consultancy firm and named it Alcedo after his polo team.
According to Companies House, papers for the new business were submitted on Friday as Mr Swaffield and top bosses at Monarch were holding last-ditch talks to try to rescue the failing airline.
It was formally registered as a business yesterday, just hours after Monarch sank into administration and hundreds of staff were being told they had lost their jobs.
He also became the chief executive of a firm call Shelfco 2017, a business specialising in scheduled passenger transport, on Monday, September 25.
This was just as Monarch was making a bid to sell off parts of its beleaguered business to raise cash.
Monarch chief operating officer Nils Christy and finance chief Christopher Bennett are also listed as directors of Shelfco, which is registered to Monarch’s building in Luton Airport.
Last night a friend of Mr Swaffield insisted he had not done anything wrong by setting up his new business while rescue talks were taking place.
He added: ‘He has got his own life to look after as well.’
Executives refused to confirm the airline was on the brink of insolvency even in the late hours of Sunday, with the company still accepting bookings on Saturday.
It went into administration yesterday facing losses of £100million, with accountants KPMG taking over. Mr Swaffield joined Monarch in April 2014, and was made chief executive three months later.
He was at the helm when the business was taken over by private equity firm Greybull Capital.
The 50-year-old had worked his way up at British Airways before going on to run the Avios travel rewards scheme.
According to company accounts, the highest paid director at Monarch last year – thought to be Mr Swaffield – took home £583,000.
As the chief executive, he would have been set the challenge of turning round the business as it was hit with the loss of business from terrorist attacks in Egypt and the fall in the pound.
As Monarch sank further into debt, Mr Swaffield would have been faced with the crucial task of negotiating with regulators at the Civil Aviation Authority about the airline’s future.
But despite the difficulties and desperate rescue talks, he has been named as a director of Alcedo Consulting Services, a firm offering advice on management and services related to air travel.
Documents with Companies House state the firm began yesterday – October 2.
It is named after Mr Swaffield’s polo team, which recently won several trophies at the prestigious Cowdray Park Polo Club, West Sussex. It is dubbed ‘the home of polo’ and Princes Charles, William and Harry have also played there. A good year: After winning Experts believe that the cost of running the Alcedo team is at least £60,000 per season to pay for top- flight players and horses.
Mr Swaffield’s best player is James Harper, 37, who is a top name in the polo world and said to command fees of about £3,000 per game. In contrast to Monarch, Alcedo enjoyed an ‘outstanding season’ this year, according to Cowdray Park, and even won the prestigious Benson Cup in July.
Mr Swaffield has humble origins, growing up on a council estate in Bournemouth as the youngest of four siblings. He has previously said he was ‘consumed’ by polo after teaching himself the sport.
A regular among the polo set, he has featured in upmarket magazines like Tatler. Mr Swaffield also owns four horses costing up to £30,000 each.
‘I was always interested in horses but we couldn’t afford it,’ he once told the Mail. ‘So I got a book about them instead.’
Mr Swaffield has listed himself and his partner William Low, 51, as the only directors of the new business. Mr Low is listed as an aviation expert. The pair live in a £600,000 bungalow in West Sussex.
In 2015, Mr Swaffield was listed on the Financial Times/OUTstanding list of the world’s most powerful LGBT executives.
James Daley, of consumer champion Fairer Finance, said: ‘It seems a bit strange that, as his ship was sinking, Andrew Swaffield was busy making plans to build another one.
‘He owed it to customers, staff and shareholders to fight it to the last. It will be upsetting for staff to find out their chief executive was busy building a lifeboat for himself instead of finishing the job he was in. On the face of it, this doesn’t look great.’
Of the staff to have lost their jobs, 1,760 worked for Monarch Airlines and 98 were employed by Monarch Travel Group.
Yesterday administrator Blair Nimmo said: ‘We know this has been a very sad and difficult day for employees. Regrettably, with the business no longer able to fly, a significant number of redundancies were made.’
Mr Swaffield could not be reached for comment.
‘Owed it to staff to fight it to the last’