Monarch Airlines, simply known as Monarch, was a British charter and scheduled airline founded by Bill Hodgson and Don Peacock and financed by the Swiss Sergio Mantegazza family. The company later became a low-cost airline in 2004 before abandoning charter flying completely. The airline's headquarters were based at London–Luton, and it had operating bases at Birmingham, Leeds/Bradford, London–Gatwick and Manchester.
When Monarch entered administration in 2017, it was the biggest airline collapse in UK history up to that point, leaving nearly 100,000 passengers and holidaymakers stranded. However, on 23 September 2019, Thomas Cook also collapsed, leaving 150,000 people stranded, and went on to become the largest UK airline ever to collapse. The airline held a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Type A Operating Licence. This licence allowed Monarch to carry passengers, cargo, and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.
History
1960s
On 5 June 1967, Monarch Airlines was established by a pair of British businesspeople, Bill Hodgson and Don Peacock, both of whom had previously been directors at the airline British Eagle. Unlike typical airlines at the time, Monarch was founded with the express intent of conveying British holidaymakers to tourism hotspots and desirable getaway destinations throughout Europe. Particularly at a time when air travel was traditionally feasible only to the rich, Monarch took another unusual step. The airline's ambition was to promote the service towards the demands and needs of the average family, rather than it being marketed solely for wealthier clients.
The business was operated as a subsidiary of Globus Getaway Holdings and received financial backing from the Swiss Sergio Mantegazza family. At the time of Monarch's inception, the Mantegazza family were the owners of UK-based tour operator Cosmos Tours. Sister company Engineering Limited (which would later become Monarch Aircraft Engineering Limited) performed maintenance on the company's aircraft. On 5 April 1968, Monarch commenced commercial airline operations. Monarch conducted a charter flight from Luton Airport, London to Madrid, Spain, using a Bristol 175 Britannia 300 turboprop formerly operated by British airline company Caledonian Airways.
The airline's initial fleet comprised a pair of Bristol Britannias (both ex-Caledonian Airways) serviced in a single hangar at Luton. During 1969, the firm's second year of operation, Monarch was able to acquire additional Britannias from the administrators of troubled airline British Eagle. Shortly after, the airliner reached a milestone in the form of 250,000 passengers carried within a 12-month period, which at that point was operating an expanded fleet of six Britannias.
1970s
During 1971, Monarch entered the jet age, having completed arrangements for the acquisition of an initial batch of three Boeing 720B jetliners to its fleet. The airline's first commercial jet service took to the air on 13 December 1971. Co-founder Bob Hodgson later praised the low noise levels of the Boeing 720, favourably referring to them as being "whispering giants". The introduction of the company's first jet aircraft type also coincided with the adoption of a revised livery.
By the 1970s, there was a strong demand amongst the wider British population for the package holiday format, to which Monarch was able to capitalise upon greatly. During 1972, the airline recorded having carried 500,000 passengers with the space of a single year for the first time. However, during the 1970s energy crisis, in which the price of oil spiked dramatically, many airlines experienced periods of considerable financial hardship. One of Monarch's rivals in the package holiday sector, Court Line, was forced into receivership. While the company took on several former staff from Court Line, Monarch itself was not immune to these difficulties either.
By 1976, Monarch had transitioned to an all-jet fleet, following the sale of the airline's last Britannia to Greek cargo charter airline Afrek on 21 May of that year. Two years earlier, the airline had retired its last passenger-configured Britannia, which operated the type's final commercial passenger flight in Europe on 9 October 1974. The changeover to an all-jet fleet was brought about as a result of (first) the acquisition of a further two second-hand Boeing 720Bs, as well as (second) the addition of a pair of BAC One-Eleven 500s, sourced from (first) British Caledonian and (second) the administrators of the failed Court Line respectively.
