Monarch Airlines has announced a plan to expand its presence across the Midlands, with a new base set to be launched at East Midlands Airport.
The carrier will provide flights to Malaga, Alicante, Palma de Mallorca and Faro in Portugal’s Algarve region from the gateway starting in late summer 2012.
Furthermore, Monarch will offer more services from Birmingham Airport with the introduction of a new route to Barcelona. Higher frequencies will also be made available on existing links to Malaga, Alicante, Faro, Rome and Palma de Mallorca. Monarch already claims to be Birmingham’s leading scheduled airline, with more than 875,000 passengers flying to 20 European destinations every year.
The new Monarch Airlines operation from East Midlands Airport covers most of the destinations to Spain and Portugal affected by the closure of bmibaby from September, which was announced today by its owners, IAG.
“There’s no doubt that passengers seeking Winter sun from East Midlands Airport will welcome this news from Monarch”, said Ken O’Toole, MAG’s Chief Commercial Officer.
“Whilst we’re sorry to see the closure of bmibaby, Spain and Portugal are extremely popular destinations with our passengers and we were very keen to ensure that we were able to provide this. We are delighted that Monarch Airlines is taking advantage of this opportunity and I am sure they will be a successful and popular operator.”
Commenting on the announcement, Managing Director of Monarch Airlines, Kevin George said, “As opportunities have opened up in the market, it has become clear that the Midlands will be underserved as a region in the future.”
He added: ‘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.’
