The British airline Monarch headed to bankruptcy. Surprisingly this morning, the company announced via Twitter’s social network that all upcoming flights were canceled. Initial estimates show that around 110,000 passengers who are currently abroad and had return tickets to the UK are affected by the situation. Another 300,000 others had tickets for upcoming flights.
“We are sorry to announce that Monarch stopped all flights and breaks”, says the short message of the company. Subsequent calls asked passengers not to go to airports.
The UK authorities are working on a solution to the problem.
“Growing costs and an increasingly competitive market for European short-haul flights is one of the main reasons for the long-term loss of the Monarch Group”, according to KPMG, which will lead the company through the bankruptcy procedure. Terror attacks in Tunisia and Egypt, increased competition, and the weak pound have been blamed for its demise.
Monarch, besides airline, also owned a tour operator business that also stopped working.
This is the next European bankruptcy procedure. In the summer, Air Berlin, Europe’s second-largest airline, entered in bankruptcy procedure. Italian national carrier Alitalia has also been put up for sale. At the end, Ryanair recently stopped thousands of flights due to a shortage of pilots.
