Monarch Airlines to Expand Operations Across the Midlands

LONDON, May 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Airline to launch a new base at East Midlands Airport and expand services from Birmingham Airport

Scheduled leisure airline Monarch has today announced a further expansion of its operations across the Midlands with the launch of a new base at East Midlands Airport, and also the growth of services from Birmingham Airport.

The airline, already a leading leisure carrier at Birmingham Airport, will introduce a new base at East Midlands Airport from late summer 2012 and launch new Monarch flights to key leisure destinations across the Mediterranean, including Malaga, Alicante, Palma (Majorca) and Faro (Portugal).

In addition, Monarch will be expanding its operations from Birmingham Airport through the introduction of additional frequencies on existing routes to Malaga, Alicante, Faro, Rome and Palma, plus the addition of new flights to Barcelona.  A UK base for Monarch since 2005, the airline is already one of Birmingham's leading scheduled airline, flying over 875,000 passengers every year to over twenty destinations across Europe.  

Commenting on the launch of a new base at East Midlands Airport and the expansion of services from Birmingham Airport, Managing Director of Monarch Airlines, Kevin George said, "In light of recent industry changes, opportunities have opened up in the market. It has become clear that the Midlands will be underserved as a region in the future, and that there is a lack of quality carriers to serve customers travelling from the area."

"As an airline with over 40 years heritage and a stronghold in the Midlands already, the expansion of our existing services from Birmingham and the launch of operations from East Midlands makes perfect sense for Monarch, and accelerates the strategy we announced last year to focus on the development of our scheduled operations into key leisure destinations across the Mediterranean, the Canaries and North Africa."

George continues. "The further expansion of our services from the Midlands will provide even more customers in the Midlands with choice and flexibility and protects jobs at East Midlands Airport in the future".

Note to editors

Monarch, the leading scheduled leisure airline, has to date operated flights to Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Portugal Spain and Turkey from Birmingham, London Gatwick, London Luton and Manchester airports. In addition to year-round low fares, Monarch also offers a bespoke "build your own class of travel" range of products and services both on the ground and inflight.  Monarch has always aimed at offering high quality service - all customers are allocated a seat at check-in, but for those wishing to select where in the cabin they sit to ensure that families and groups are seated together, seats can be pre-booked from £5.99 per one-way flight.  For customers looking for added comfort, extra legroom seats are also available offering up to six inches of extra space from only £9.99.

Monarch recently launched 'Air Packs' enabling customers to build their own flights through transparent and pre-packaged optional extras,starting from just £20 per person per flight. The two new Air Packs are offered alongside the airline's traditional "build your own class" product and are designed to give customers full visibility on price from the beginning of the booking process. Customers are able to choose between two Monarch Air Packs: an Essentials Pack and a Premium Pack, combining extras such as allocated seating, hold baggage and access to online check-in.

Customers can also take advantage of MFlex, which provides improved flexibility for customers when booking flights on Monarch's scheduled network of flights.  Charged at only £2.50 per person, per flight, the new MFlex product must be added at the time of booking.  Once added, the customer is free to make one change to their booking up to 15 days prior to departure, which includes a date change or a route change, without incurring an administration fee*.  What's more, if a customer selects MFlex when booking, but makes no subsequent changes to their booking, Monarch will refund them the value of MFlex in the form of a credit voucher, which can be used as part payment towards a future scheduled flight with Monarch.

For further information or to book Monarch flights please visit http://www.monarch.co.uk

For further media information contact
Jo Leigh in the press office
Tel: +44-(0)1582-398-287
Email: jo.leigh@monarch.co.uk