Monarch goes into administration
Monarch, one of the UK’s oldest airline brands, announced at 4am on 2 October that it had gone into administration, immediately cancelling all flights. This has left 110,000 UK tourists stuck overseas without a flight home. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said that it will be sending 34 chartered planes to various locations over the next two weeks to bring back the those stuck overseas. The effort will be the largest peacetime repatriation in UK history.
The BBC has said that recent terror attacks in Tunisia and Egypt, increased competition and the weak pound may be factors in the company’s collapse. Last year, it posted a £291-million loss.
No planes were in the air when the company announced its administration, and customers were notified by text. The CAA has told all customers that were planning to return to the UK within two weeks not to cut their trips short, and that they would be flown home at no extra cost. Over 300,000 future bookings have been cancelled.