Tens of thousands of Balearic-bound Britons are paying the price of the collapse of Monarch Airlines early on Monday morning. Airline industry sources in Palma have confirmed that the airline has cancelled 400 Balearic flights between now and the 15 October deadline to repatriate clients currently on holiday overseas.
An estimated 40,000 Britons, who had booked to fly out to the Balearics between now and then, have lost their flights and holidays if they had booked a package holiday with the travel firm.
The sudden collapse of Monarch has left Balearic hoteliers out of pocket to the tune of around ten million euros - a loss of between one and two per cent depending on the establishment and a lack of occupancy at the very end of what was another profitable season. Over the winter season, the absence of Monarch flights will leave a gap in the market for people wishing to fly from the Balearics to the UK, in particular Britons wishing to fly between the UK and Minorca.
Yesterday, the Majorca-based former chairman of the Monarch Group, Hugh Morgan, who left the company nearly four years ago, told the Bulletin that Monday was an extremely "sad" day.
"It’s ironic that an Irishman appears to be getting away with chopping, changing and cancelling flights while Monarch is made to pay the price. I guess with Ryanair having a war chest of around 1.7 billion euros, it can ride it out. But Monarch, which has been providing an excellent, professional and trustworthy service for 55 years, with its fleet of 30 aircraft has paid the price.
"It’s been an extremely tough trading year. Strong competition from easyJet, which also had problems a few years back, the power of Ryanair, uncertainty over Brexit, the drop in the value of the pound against the euro and Jet2 making an extremely aggressive and successful move into the south of the UK, something had to give and unfortunately it has been Monarch."
Looking at the market as a whole, he praised the Balearic minister for tourism, Biel Barceló, for speaking out in the Bulletin on Sunday and defending the relationship between the islands and the UK. "But I’m worried about hotel rates for next year. If wages are going up by 17%, hotel prices up by around 15%, Brexit and the weak pound, the Balearics better be careful what they wish for."