Thousands of people have been left stranded overseas after the airline Monarch fell into administration and cancelled all its future flights.
In the largest collapse of its kind to hit a British airline, around 300,000 bookings have been scrapped and around 2,100 employees of the company woke on Monday to discover they were out of a job.
Monarch stopped flying from East Midlands Airport in 2015, but the closure is expected to affected thousands of holidaymakers across the region.
Regulator the Civil Aviation Authority said the ‘unprecedented’ situation meant the Government has asked it to co-ordinate flights back to the UK for all Monarch customers currently overseas.
People due to depart from the UK on a Monarch flight from Monday (October 2) onwards are being asked not to travel to airports as all Monarch services effectively stopped overnight on Sunday.
The authority said the return flights for people stranded abroad would be arranged “at no extra cost”.
“We will of course prioritise vulnerable passengers, including unaccompanied minors, and make sure that family groups travel on the same flights,” the authority said.
In an email to staff Monarch chief executive Andrew Swaffield wrote: “This is the update I hoped I would never have to write. Despite our best efforts today Monarch Airlines Limited and Monarch Travel Group are ceasing operations and going into administration.
“Soon you will hear from the administrator, KPMG, who will now be running these two entities in administration and will explain what this means for all of us who work for either company.”
Ali Al-Ahmar, 23, from Wollaton, was due to fly back home with Monarch on Tuesday evening (October 3) along with girlfriend Rachel Skelton from a holiday in Cala d’Or, Mallorca.
He said the couple first found out they were stranded from posts on Facebook, and had no direct contact from Monarch. Ali is now hoping to somehow get home in time for a job interview on Thursday (October 5).
“I was just really surprised that something like this could happen,” he said.
“From what I remember when Woolworths closed their shops there was at least news of it in advance – there was news of it for a while before anything went down.
“This was just really surprising, there was no email, no communication.
“As of right now it only looks like today’s flights have been re-scheduled. I wouldn’t be so stressed if I didn’t need to get back so soon. I can’t wait to get back home now.”
