[Buzzc150]

Can someone explain to me please why not having their ATOL renewed means the end for Monarch ? I know they sell package holidays which ideally need ATOL but they are also a regular scheduled airlines selling flights like anyone else. I'm not seeing why they can't continue as a scheduled carrier selling flight only ?
I've several good friends at Monarch. I really feel for them tonight.

[avtur3]

This is quote from a story on the BBC news website this evening ...

"If the regulator decides not to renew its package holiday licence, consumer confidence in Monarch's scheduled airline operations could also be undermined."

The number of package holiday taken by Monarch customers is described as being a tiny fraction in comparison with the 6.3 million airline passengers they carried last year. But the airline business has come under a lot of pressure, the airline posted a £290m loss a little less than a year ago. It seems it's all a matter of confidence, the question mark over the ATOL licence for the holiday business is likely to be reflected onto the airline business. I think there is also an element of deja vu, this not being the first time the ATOL licence has been at risk.

[Flyingfemme]

Hmmm. I was unfortunate enough to travel to Europe by airline ealier this summer and took Easyjet out with Monarch back. They were the only airlines on the route. Monarch actually compared very favourably to Easyjet at half the price. Maybe they aren't charging enough.

[avtur3]

Following the story on 'the dark side' there is almost a minute by minute commentary of individual aircraft movements, with people trying to interpret what each movement means.

There appears to be a great deal of pessimism, with a focus on an announcement at 03:30 UK time.

All seems very dramatic, sad really as I've had a number of decent flights with Monarch over the last 12 months, all flight only in the course of work, they've been very convenient and cost effective, I hope they do survive.

[avtur3]

And now the sad news that Monarch has ceased trading, you have to feel for the 2,500 people who worked for them.

[johnm]

Perhaps a golden opportunity for O'Leary to address his embarrassment, though it may not be an ideal solution for the Monarch workers

[Sooty25]

Perhaps a golden opportunity for O'Leary to address his embarrassment, though it may not be an ideal solution for the Monarch workers

sadly, that is exactly what I thought. The one opportunity RyanAir crews had to get better conditions and then a huge quantity of unemployed but experienced aircrew get dumped into the market. It is a big shame this has happened and the Monarch board need to take a good long hard look at what they did wrong.

Sympathies to any Monarch crew that may be on here.

[cockney steve]

*devils advocate* Where are all those potential customers going to go??? They fill the spare capacity of the surviving carriers, then what?
Either there's a massive over-capacity, or just the normal spare margin. Either way, most of the workers will be absorbed, either by expansion of existing carriers, or a "phoenix" operation which carries on with a slimmer, more fit-for- purpose, Monarch reincarnation.
Sensationalism about a commercial reorganisation and rationalisation, IMO.

[RichardPearse]

Perhaps a golden opportunity for O'Leary to address his embarrassment, though it may not be an ideal solution for the Monarch workers

sadly, that is exactly what I thought. The one opportunity RyanAir crews had to get better conditions and then a huge quantity of unemployed but experienced aircrew get dumped into the market. It is a big shame this has happened and the Monarch board need to take a good long hard look at what they did wrong.

Sympathies to any Monarch crew that may be on here.

Much as I'd prefer to work in aviation, times like this I appreciate my boring-but-unlikely-to-disappear desk job. Sympathies to all Monarch employees

The BBC have suggested that, as Monarch fly A320s and RyanAir fly 737s, there's not necessarily much potential for them to grab ex-Monarch crew. At least in the short term.

I'm far from an ATPL though and the mainstream media's coverage of aviation issues should always be taken with a large pinch of salt. So I don't know how true this is, or how long it might take to retrain crew onto a different type.

[Sooty25]

any employee is potentially only 5 minutes away from redundancy!

[kanga]

..

The BBC have suggested that, as Monarch fly A320s and RyanAir fly 737s, there's not necessarily much potential for them to grab ex-Monarch crew. At least in the short term.
...

ISTR that Ryanair does or did demand a 737 Type Rating as a precondition of pilot job applications .. but that was possibly in an earlier era of CPL market surplus

[Josh]

Ryanair already have a massive training backlog and a shortage of both trainers and training sectors. This won’t help them.

I am delighted to see both Virgin and Flybe are offering dedicated recruitment channels for Monarch pilots. I hope other airline staff are as fortunate.

[Chris Martyr]

This is indeed dreadfully sad news for what was probably the last short haul "non-virtual" airline.
The slightly better news is that there are other operators who are looking to expand their operations in both short and long haul areas and what with the A350 now looking to be the aircraft of choice [ ] for some , then many Monarch guys will be snapped up . The very generic layout of Airbus types is such that only "differences training " is required in many cases.

The Ryanair scenario is probably not quite as clear cut as they would make people believe , what with all their pilots being away on "holiday" .....[Yeah OK Michael]
Although there may well be cases of Monarch guys who can slot in to stop-gap type solutions here.
The Monarch situation does not unfortunately open a natural door to resolve the Ryanair problem.
There is only one way in which Ryanair could solve their problem....And that's to get rid of a certain person whose position now must surely be untenable.

[GolfHotel]

While very sympathetic to those who have lost their jobs. I don't understand why it's costing so much to get everyone back. Is it past the wit of man for an administrator to step in and run the company's own planes?

[KingJames]

If that man is Chris Grayling then yes it is.