Monarch receive £75m cash boost from shareholders
04.11.11
The Monarch Group has received a £75 million cash injection from its shareholders and has announced a major restructuring, including a number of new scheduled routes. The Luton Airport based airline is backed by the wealthy Swiss Mantegazza family, this is the second time in two years that they have stepped in to refinance the group.
Monarch said the deal has been agreed with the group’s shareholders ‘based on a business plan developed in response to the high fuel price environment’. It will allow Monarch Airlines to develop its scheduled business and expand its fleet from 30 to 40 planes ‘over the medium term’.
For Summer 2012 the airline will add two additional Airbus A320 aircraft to its fleet and will launch 14 new routes from its existing bases at Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and Birmingham, taking the total number of scheduled routes to 73. The airline will expand its scheduled operations into Italy and Croatia and aims to increase passenger numbers from 7 million to 10 million.
Announcing the restructuring, the group, which includes Monarch Airlines and Cosmos, confirmed a £45 million loss in the year to October. It blamed the loss on ‘turbulent market conditions and high oil prices’ and forecast modest growth for 2012. It is putting a cost reduction programme into place ‘based on efficiencies and simplification of fleet operations in the airline’, including the retirement of a number of older aircraft.
The new routes are:
- Manchester to Dubrovnik, Milan, Venice and Verona.
- Birmingham to Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Milan, Rome and Venice.
- Gatwick to Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Milan and Venice
- Luton to Rome
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