Monarch airline back from the dead

Monarch airline has announced that it expects to be back into profit this year after skirting around the precipice of collapse just eight months ago.

The restructuring undertaken by the carrier has so far reduced losses by £40m but it also resulted in the axing of 700 jobs and pay reductions of 30% for pilots.

Its chief exec Andrew Swaffield said these changes saved £55m with a further £200m saved from renegotiating aircraft leases and jettisoning long-haul and charter flights.

“We only had two aircraft for long-haul flights and you can’t run a profitable business that way”, Mr Swaffield said. “Charter flights were also a dwindling part of the business, contributing to just 15% of sales and we just needed to make that decision."

The carrier benefitted from lower oil costs to the tune of £10m. Timely renegotiation here meant it had the lowest fuel costs out of all European airlines for the last six months.

Losses were brought down to just shy of £70m for the half year to April, compared to slightly more than £100m last year.

Monarch was started by the Mantegazza family in 1968 with just two aircraft operating out of Luton. Last year the family sold out when investment company Greybull Capital stepped in with a deal to rescue the stricken carrier.

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