The UK’s biggest peacetime repatriation is under way after the collapse of Monarch Airlines, with 110,000 customers to be brought back home on specially chartered planes.
The accountants KPMG announced in the early hours of Monday that Monarch, Britain’s longest-surviving airline brand, had been placed into administration and that all further flights from the UK had been cancelled and would not be rescheduled.
The Civil Aviation Authority said it had launched a programme to bring Monarch customers home over the next fortnight, chartering 30 planes for the rescue operation.
All Monarch customers who are abroad and due to return to the UK in the next two weeks will be flown home at no extra cost and they do not need to cut short their stay, according to the regulator. But it said the “harsh message” was that 300,000 future bookings had been cancelled and anyone who had booked holidays leaving the UK would not be able to travel.
Monarch fleet
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders |
|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 9 | — |
| Airbus A321-200 | 25 | — |
| Boeing 737-800 | 1 | — |
