Are Monarch Airlines in trouble?

[taz]

Had an e-mail from them yesterday saying that the flight I had booked in February had changed.
It took me a while to twig that they had cancelled my flight and changed it to a day earlier, the Sunday. If I had wanted that I would have booked it in the first place!
My wife and I are going to a concert on the Sunday, staying overnight in a Travelodge and going straight to the airport Monday morning.
We were flying Luton to Gib and there always used to be a flight everyday (or at least 6 flights a week).
On checking the schedule it looks like there are only now TWO.
I tried alternatives like Manchester to Gib, Luton to Malaga but it was the same story - very few flights available.
I had no choice but to cancel and, against my better judgement, fly Easyjet to Malaga.
As it turned out, the cost difference is minimal, even allowing for a car for the duration of the holiday.

 

[arclight]

Don't think they are in trouble, as such. Maybe just aircraft availibility problems. Their fleet is small (only 7 aircraft) so if one unexpectedly becomes u/s they'll need to shuffle flights about, I expect.

 

[taz]

Don't think they are in trouble, as such. Maybe just aircraft availibility problems. Their fleet is small (only 7 aircraft) so if one unexpectedly becomes u/s they'll need to shuffle flights about, I expect.

That seems a bit small to me and a quick google shows they had 31 active aircraft as at June 23rd this year.

 

[Pieface]

There's nothing really bad with Easyjet. It's just a cheap airline.

 

[ChrisMClark]

I've never had issues with Easyjet, BMI, Flybe, or any other budget airline...with the exception of Ryanair.

Easyjet are currently selling the Gatwick-Gib route...you can't book flights any further ahead than June 30th...which is a bitch as I want to take my wife over there. Nothing better than gettin shedded on Casemates on a sunny afternoon.

 

[arclight]

That seems a bit small to me and a quick google shows they had 31 active aircraft as at June 23rd this year.

I checked with Wikipedia and it said they had 7 aircraft as of Nov 2009.

As of November 2009, the Monarch Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:[35]
Aircraft Total Orders Options Passengers
Airbus A300-600R 4 0 0 361
Airbus A320-200 5 0 0 174
Airbus A321-200 16 0 0 214
Airbus A330-200 2 0 0 358
Boeing 757-200 3 0 0 229
Boeing 767-300ER 1 0 0 309
Boeing 787 0 6 4 TBC

Two of those are on loan to Egypt Air from 8 Nov until 16 Dec 09.

 

[arclight]

That seems a bit small to me and a quick google shows they had 31 active aircraft as at June 23rd this year.

Sorry, your are nearer the mark than I am.
Totally misread the figures.

I checked with Wikipedia and it said they had 35 aircraft as of Nov 2009, with 2 of those on loan to Egypt Air from 8 Nov until 15 Dec 09.

 

[taz]

There's nothing really bad with Easyjet. It's just a cheap airline.

I just wish you could get your seats at check in - I don't like the mad scramble in the cabin which is bad enough when you HAVE got allocated seats!

Monarch are no better than any of the 'cheap' airlines anyway. On our last return from Gib in October I had so little legroom it was ridiculous. We usually put at least one of our hand luggage under the seat in front (there's never enough locker space anyway) and we struggled to actually achieve this for the first time. We were seated near the rear of the plane but before we had actually got to the aircraft they had already taken the rear steps away.

 

[MisterE]

You say you booked a flight in February but it's not clear whether you made the booking last February for some unspecified date, or you booked to fly next February. In any case, flight cancellations due to unserviceable aircraft only happen on the day, or maybe the day before. What has happened to you is being done by all airlines at the moment - canceling flights in order to survive. Where there are multiple flights a day/week to a destination, they are being reduced, or even stopped altogether. And a full aircraft does not necessarily mean a successful airline and profitable route.

 

[MattBristow]

Most airlines 'winter' a certain amount of aircraft. I would imagine the google number refer to operating plans at that time.

I fly pretty regularly to Spain, Mainly Malaga and its not unusual for flights to be moved/cancelled in advance if theres not enough interest in it. We book upto 6 flights over 6 - 8 months or so and quite often the detail change form whern we book. Nothing to worry about if you ask me.

 

[taz]

well, it has never happened before and every time I have flown this route the aircraft is full or near as makes no difference.

The flight was booked in September for next February, just to clarify things,

Having checked several options for that period, as I said, it seems that they have cut back tremendously on their operating schedule.