Airlines

Monarch Airlines - airline information

General information

Monarch is a charter and scheduled airline, founded in 1967 in England.

The carrier operating from its Luton Airport hub is one of the UK's major charter airlines.

Officially this carrier is considered a low cost one, however it was established primarily to operate charter flights.

Monarch focuses primarily on Southern European tourist destinations, where Brits frequently travel. But, interestingly it is one of the very few budget carriers on the "Old Continent" that also flies to Asia.

Fact sheet

General company information...
Official name:	Monarch Airlines
Slogan(s):	-
IATA designator:	ZB
ICAO designator:	MON
Headquarters:	Luton (England), UK
Alliance:	None
Destinations...
Hubs:	Birmingham International Airport - Birmingham, UK London Luton Airport - London, UK London Gatwick Airport - London, UK Manchester Airport - London, UK
Focus cities, regions, secondary hubs:	-
Number of destinations:	20
Fleet & flights-related...
Fleet size:	28
Aircraft types used:	Airbus A320, Airbus A321, Airbus A300, Airbus A330 Boeing 757, Boeing 767
Accidents & incidents:	Total: 2 - Fatal cases: 0
Passengers-related...
Number of passengers:	-
Classes:	-
Frequent flyer program:	Vantage Club
Other important issues: - Monarch is one of the very few European budget carriers to fly to the Maldives, India, Mexico, Cuba, Canada and other faraway countries.

Destinations

The carrier serves major European cities, top spring and summer destinations in Southern Europe and also exotic holiday hotspots in the Maldives, India, etc.

Some flights are charters, others are scheduled ones.

Examples of destinations for Monarch scheduled flights: Alicante, Almería, Barcelona, Faro, Gibraltar, Granada, Ibiza, Jerez, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Las Palmas, Larnaca, Málaga, Menorca, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife, etc.

Examples of charter flight destinations: Goa, Malé, Orlando, Cancún, Canada, etc.

Overall, in early 2007 a total of 20 destinations were served, which are planned to increase.

Fleet

28 airplanes of mixed types function within Monarch's fleet. Types used are: Airbus A320s, A321s, A300s, A330s and Boeing 757s and 767s.

Long-haul routes to India, Cuba, Maldives, Mexico, etc. are most often periodically operated, on charter basis. It's a great opportunity for travel agents to sell tickets on such flights which are more frequent during spring, summer and early autumn.

The flights are operated through the hubs at Gatwick and Luton near London and Birmingham Airport and Manchester Airport.

Monarch has ordered 6 models of the famous brand new Boeing 787 "Dreamliner". With these long range aircraft, they will either be able to increase their faraway destinations list or simply replace their older long range planes. The 787s will all enter the fleet by 2013.

Other 3 Airbus A320s have been ordered by the English airline. These will enter service in 2007 already.

Activity & market position

Facing the giant low cost airlines

Monarch "meets" easyJet every day and also faces strong pressure from Irish Ryanair, it still does a good job attracting attention to its services and growing both in terms of profit and number of aircraft.

The main reason for this is that it exploits the vacation segment. While easyJet and Ryanair are rather occupied with extending their net over Europe, grabbing more and more destinations, creating hubs.

Monarch has grown slower throughout the decades, while younger carriers like Hungarian WIZZ Air and the remarkable enterprise easyJet are adding new jets to their hubs like birds multiply in their nest. Despite this, the company is doing pretty well, slowly modernizing its fleet, operating from Luton, where easyJet is also based.

Last modified/updated: June 23, 2007