Monarch Airlines

For almost five decades, Monarch Airlines was as much a part of the British summer as sunburn on the first beach day. From Luton the airline flew vacationers to Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and the eastern Mediterranean – first with propeller aircraft, finally with a fleet of Airbus A320s and A321s. On the early morning of October 2, 2017, it was over, and the British aviation authority had to bring more than 100,000 people home. Here you’ll learn how Monarch worked, which types it flew and why its end made aviation history.

Monarch Airlines at a glance

Monarch Airlines was a British leisure airline based at London Luton Airport. It was founded on June 5, 1967 by Bill Hodgson and Don Peacock. Both had previously worked as directors at British Eagle, a private British airline that collapsed shortly afterward. Financial backing came from the Swiss Mantegazza family, which also owned the tour operator Cosmos. For decades Monarch was thus part of a travel group – similar to other British leisure airlines that were closely tied to a tour operator.

The business was at first classic charter: tour operators bought entire planeloads, and Monarch flew the guests to their destination. From the 1980s a scheduled business of its own was added, at first under the name Monarch Crown Service, from 2002 as Monarch Scheduled. In 1981 Monarch carried more than one million passengers a year for the first time, and in 1988 it was over two million. In 2013 the airline reported around seven million passengers.

A special feature was the close link to engineering: the sister company Monarch Aircraft Engineering maintained in Luton not only its own fleet but also aircraft of other airlines. It survived the airline’s collapse by a good year before it, too, was split up and sold in January 2019.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code ZB: appeared in flight numbers, on tickets and on departure boards – for example on the last flight, ZB3785.
• ICAO code MON: appeared in air traffic control flight plans and in tracking data.
• Callsign MONARCH: this is how the crews checked in on the radio.

If you’re sorting old boarding passes, luggage tags or photos of departure boards, the abbreviation ZB helps most. How the two code systems relate is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes. You can read more about radio call names in Airline callsigns and their history.

The history in stages

The early days with propellers

Monarch did not start with jets but with the four-engine Bristol Britannia, a turboprop that other airlines were already retiring at the time. The first two aircraft came from Caledonian Airways, and Monarch took over more from the bankruptcy estate of British Eagle. With this equipment the young airline flew package vacationers south until it completed its last passenger flight for Monarch in 1974. Monarch sold the last example in May 1976.

The leap to jets

On December 13, 1971, Monarch began jet operations with the Boeing 720B – a shorter, faster sister of the 707 that Monarch took over used. In 1981 the fleet included five 720Bs, plus three BAC One-Eleven Series 500s and a Boeing 707-320C. At the end of 1980, two leased Boeing 737-200 Advanceds were added. This mix of used aircraft was typical of British charter airlines of that time; which path competitors such as Dan-Air or Air Europe took, you can read on their pages.

The fleet over time

In almost 50 years, Monarch flew a remarkable range of types. The most important at a glance:

Type	Period at Monarch	Use	Spotter tip
Bristol Britannia	1968–1976	First fleet, charter	Museum example in Monarch colors at Duxford
Boeing 720B	from 1971	First jet type	Short 707 sister with turbofans
BAC One-Eleven 500	1970s to 1980s	Short and medium haul	British twinjet with rear engines
Boeing 757-200	1983 into the 2010s	Charter, transatlantic	Long G-MON… series
Boeing 737-300	from the late 1980s	Charter, wet lease for EuroBerlin	Later replaced by the A320
Airbus A300-600R	from 1990	First widebody	Widebody jet for full vacation flights
Airbus A320 / A321	from 1993 / 1997	Backbone of the fleet until 2017	Around 35 aircraft at the end
Airbus A330-200	1999–2015	Long haul	Two aircraft
Boeing 737 MAX 8	ordered 2014	Never delivered	Deliveries were planned from 2018

Boeing 757: early and long-serving

The Boeing 757-200 was a key type for Monarch. In 1981 the airline ordered the jet as the first charter airline ever, and the first aircraft arrived in spring 1983. On May 1, 1988, G-MONJ flew from Luton to Orlando with a stopover in Gander – an early transatlantic 757 service under ETOPS rules, which allow twin-engine aircraft longer routes far from diversion airports. What is behind this is explained in the article ETOPS explained. How to tell the 757 from the similar 767 in photos is covered in Telling the Boeing 757 and 767 apart.

Widebodies and long haul

In 1990 Monarch introduced the Airbus A300-600 in the -600R version and thus had a widebody for the first time. In the 1990s, Boeing 767-300ERs flew at times for Alitalia, and in 1998 Monarch temporarily leased two McDonnell Douglas MD-11s from World Airways. From 1999 Monarch served long haul with two Airbus A330-200s. A single McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was also part of the fleet; after its retirement in 2002, Monarch donated it to Manchester Airport. An order for six Boeing 787-8s from 2006 was canceled by Monarch again in 2011.

The A320 family as the backbone

From 1993 Monarch flew the Airbus A320, from 1997 the longer Airbus A321. These two types made up almost the entire fleet at the end: at the time of the insolvency around 35 aircraft were flying, of which 25 were A321s with 214 seats and nine A320s with 174 seats, plus a Boeing 737-800 leased from Pegasus Airlines. How to reliably tell the A320 and A321 apart in photos is shown in the article Telling the A318, A319, A320 and A321 apart.

The plan with the 737 MAX

In October 2014 Monarch ordered 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8s plus options, with deliveries to begin from 2018. The MAX was meant to replace the Airbus fleet and cut costs. That never happened: Monarch collapsed before the first aircraft arrived.

Monarch and Germany: the EuroBerlin chapter

For German spotters there is an exciting connection. From November 1988, Monarch provided Boeing 737-300s complete with crews for EuroBerlin France, a joint venture of Air France and Lufthansa for flights from West Berlin. Background: until reunification, German airlines were not allowed to fly to West Berlin. In 1990 seven Monarch 737s were in service for EuroBerlin. The Boeing 737-300 remained part of the Monarch fleet until it was replaced by the A320.

From charter to leisure scheduled airline

From the 2000s the British vacation market changed fundamentally. More and more travelers booked flight and hotel separately, and low-cost airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair served the same destinations. Monarch responded in 2004 with a stripped-down model in which food and drinks cost extra. What distinguishes a scheduled flight from a charter is covered in the article Charter flight vs. scheduled flight.

The numbers got harder anyway. For the 2009 financial year and again in 2011, the group reported heavy losses, and in November 2011 a rescue package of £75 million followed. In 2013 Monarch was profitable again, but the pressure remained.

Greybull takes over

On October 24, 2014 – only hours before the aviation authority’s license expired – the investment firm Greybull Capital took over the Monarch group from the Mantegazza family. A hard rebuild followed: the fleet shrank from 42 to 34 aircraft, the East Midlands base had already closed in August 2014, and in April 2015 charter and long-haul flights ended. Monarch now saw itself as a leisure scheduled airline that sold seats directly to vacationers.

In fall 2016 Monarch was already at the brink once. The package holiday license (ATOL) was extended only provisionally until further financing of £165 million came together in October 2016. It later emerged that a large part of this money came from Boeing – the manufacturer from which Monarch had ordered the 737 MAX.

The end on October 2, 2017

Summer 2017 brought no rescue. Demand for destinations such as Egypt and Turkey had collapsed, Monarch had shifted capacity to Spain and Portugal and was engaged in a price war there with strong competitors. At the end of September the CAA extended the license by only 24 hours. In the night to October 2, Flight ZB3785 from Tel Aviv landed in Manchester at 3:19 a.m. local time – the last regular Monarch flight. Around 4 a.m. the CAA confirmed: Monarch has ceased operations and is in administration.

The consequences were enormous. Around 110,000 passengers were stuck abroad, and around 300,000 future bookings lapsed. More than 1,800 employees lost their jobs. An overview of similar cases is in the article Major airline collapses in Europe.

The repatriation operation

The British government decided to bring all stranded Monarch guests back free of charge – including those who had booked only a flight without package holiday protection. It spoke of the biggest peacetime repatriation operation in the country’s history. Within hours the CAA built a kind of substitute airline for this: 38 aircraft from 15 operators, from short-haul jets to large long-haul aircraft.

• Qatar Airways provided the largest share with ten aircraft.
• Titan Airways from Stansted took part with five aircraft.
• Air Transat from Canada supplied four aircraft.
• Freebird Airlines and Wamos Air contributed three aircraft each.

The flights ran for about two weeks and followed the original return dates wherever possible. The cost was around £60 million. For spotters it was an extraordinary time, because types and airlines suddenly showed up at British vacation airports that were otherwise hardly seen there. Two years later the whole thing repeated itself on an even larger scale when Thomas Cook Airlines collapsed.

Safety

Monarch had no fatal accident in its history. Known incidents involved the Boeing 757:

• January 14, 1985: On board G-MOND, leaked toilet fluid caused an electrical fault. The crew made an unscheduled landing in Portugal.
• May 22, 2002: G-MONC suffered nose gear damage while landing in Gibraltar.
• March 17, 2006: The crew of G-MONE lost visual contact with the runway on approach to Gibraltar and had to go around. The incident was investigated by the British accident investigation branch, the AAIB.

Gibraltar Airport, with its short runway, the Rock and the road crossing it, is still considered demanding – and is a spotter classic you can get to know in the guide Plane spotting in Gibraltar.

How to recognize Monarch

Today you meet Monarch in photos, slides and spotters’ logbooks. These features help with identification:

• Name and crown: The “Monarch” titles and the “M” with a crown ran through the brand’s history, even across several livery changes.
• Registration: G- with MON often in the letter sequence.
• Type and period: A 757 from 1983, an A300-600R from 1990 or an A321 from 1997 fit the picture.
• Location: Luton, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds/Bradford as bases, plus vacation destinations such as Málaga, Alicante, Faro, Tenerife, Larnaca or Gibraltar.

If old liveries appeal to you, take a look at the legendary airline liveries and the tips in Spotting vintage aircraft in the sky.

Traces of Monarch today

You can no longer spot Monarch live. But its history can be followed at several places:

In British vacation flying, airlines such as Jet2, TUI Airways and easyJet have taken over the role once played by Monarch and its former competitors such as Britannia Airways, Airtours International, First Choice Airways or XL Airways.

Common mix-ups

• Taking Monarch for a low-cost airline – Monarch came from charter and only late became a leisure scheduled airline with low-cost elements.
• Taking repatriation flights for Monarch flights – the aircraft from Qatar Airways, Titan and others flew in October 2017 on behalf of the CAA, not under Monarch’s direction.
• Looking for a 737 MAX in Monarch colors – the ordered MAXs were never delivered to Monarch.
• Confusing Britannia Airways and the Bristol Britannia – one is another British leisure airline, the other the aircraft type Monarch started with.

Conclusion

Monarch Airlines tells the story of British package vacations almost completely: turboprops in the 1960s, used jets in the 1970s, the 757 as the workhorse of the 1980s and the A320 family until the end. The airline survived oil crises, recessions and market upheavals, but did not manage the final shift to a leisure scheduled carrier against overwhelming low-cost competition. Its end stays in memory through the enormous repatriation operation – and through a Britannia in Monarch colors that recalls the beginnings at Duxford.