Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) will start operating from East Midlands Airport from August 31, 2012, with the introduction of new routes. The airline is also expanding its scheduled services for Winter 2012/13 and Summer 2013, with the addition of further new flights to Tenerife (twice-weekly), Lanzarote (twice-weekly) and Ibiza.

Monarch will fly from East Midlands Airport to Alicante (twice-weekly), Malaga (three times weekly) and Faro (twice-weekly).

Copyright Photo: Javier Rodriguez. The first Boeing 757 to be painted in the updated 2011 livery is G-DAJB pictured arriving at Palma.

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Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) has announced plans to launch a total of twelve new routes for the winter 2012/13 including scheduled flights from Leeds-Bradford International Airport for the first time.

Expanding on its already extensive network of scheduled destinations, ten of the new routes will provide easy access to some of Europe’s best winter ski resorts via Grenoble airport in France and Friedrichshafen and Munich airports in Germany.

According to the airline, “Grenoble, Friedrichshafen and Munich airports are famed for their excellent links to ski resorts covering the Western, Central and Northern and also Eastern Alps in France, Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria.  Complementing these new services, the airline’s existing services to Milan, Venice and Verona, which will operate year-round, are ideally placed for access to the Southern Alps and the Dolomites. In addition Munich provides year-round appeal with many seasonal and cultural events such as the world’s largest fair, Oktober Fest, held annually for 16 days in September and October.”

The remaining three routes will target holiday makers looking for winter sun with new flights to the Portuguese island of Madeira and an expansion of its existing program to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.

The 12 routes will launch at different stages over the fall/winter period with Munich flights launching from mid September and Madeira and Sharm el Sheikh routes launching from the end of October 2012.  Flights to Grenoble and Friedrichshafen routes will launch in mid-December and will run until early April 2013 concluding with the Easter holidays.

New scheduled flights for Winter 2012/13:

London Gatwick:

Friedrichshafen – 4 x flights per week

Funchal (Madeira) – 3 x flights per week

London Luton:

Munich – 4 x flights per week

Manchester:

Friedrichshafen – 2 x flights per week

Grenoble – 3 x flights per week

Munich – 4 x flights per week

Birmingham:

Funchal (Madeira) – 2 x flights per week

Grenoble – 3 x flights per week

Munich – 4 x flights per week

Sharm el Sheikh – 2 x flights per week

Leeds/Bradford:

Grenoble – 3 x flights per week

Munich – 2 x flights per week

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton.

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Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) is quickly filling the void being created by the departure of bmibaby (East Midlands) at East Midlands.

Monarch has announced a further expansion of its operations across the Midlands with the launch of a new base at East Midlands Airport, and also the growth of services from Birmingham Airport.

The airline, already a leading leisure carrier at Birmingham Airport, will introduce a new base at East Midlands Airport from late summer 2012 and launch new Monarch flights to key leisure destinations across the Mediterranean, including Malaga, Alicante, Palma (Majorca) and Faro (Portugal).

In addition, Monarch will be expanding its operations from Birmingham Airport through the introduction of additional frequencies on existing routes to Malaga, Alicante, Faro, Rome and Palma, plus the addition of new flights to Barcelona.  A UK base for Monarch since 2005, the airline is already one of Birmingham’s leading scheduled airline, flying over 875,000 passengers every year to over twenty destinations across Europe.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton.

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Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) on May 2 launched a new route from Manchester to Verona, Italy. The new route will operate two days a week.

In addition, the airline also added Dubrovnik in Croatia and Heraklion in Crete on May 1. The flights will operate from Birmingham and London Gatwick airports.

Flights to Dubrovnik will operate three times a week from London Gatwick airport and two times a week from Birmingham. Flights to Heraklion will operate two times a week from both London Gatwick and Birmingham airports.

The new routes are a continuation of Monarch’s expansion strategy revealed last year to focus on its scheduled services and expand its network to new leisure destinations across Europe.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best.

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Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) has launched new routes to Italy. To celebrate Monarch Airlines’ eight new Italian routes a host of Roman gladiators, Veronese opera singers and Venetian gondolas surprised passengers at London Gatwick Airport as a huge 1,000 square feet 3D artwork took over the runway.

The new routes now serve Milan, Rome, Venice and Verona. The new route will build upon Monarch’s growth strategy revealed in June 2011 to focus on expanding its scheduled services to new leisure destinations across Europe.

The new routes are now flying from all of Monarch’s UK bases:

Flights to Milan – from Manchester, Birmingham and London Gatwick, started on March 25

Flights to Rome – from London Luton and Birmingham, started on March 25

Flights to Venice – from Manchester (started March 27), Birmingham and London Gatwick (started March 25)

Flights to Verona – from Manchester (starting on May 2)

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton.

Monarch Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Monarch Airlines (Monarch.co.uk) Airbus A320-214 G-OZBK (msn 1370) MAN (Nik French) (wrong shade of paint), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Monarch Airlines (London Luton and Manchester) has issued its winter schedule.

The company issued the following statement:

Monarch is “now operating year-round flights to the Italian destinations of Venice, Verona, Milan and Rome.

Four-weekly services will operate throughout the winter from Birmingham airport to Milan, Venice and Rome.

London Gatwick will operate six-weekly flights to Milan as well as four weekly services to the city of Venice.

Manchester airport will operate five-weekly flights to Milan as well as four weekly flights to Verona and thrice-weekly flights to Venice.

The winter flying program will also operate to existing destinations throughout Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Egypt, Turkey and Gibraltar.

Monarch operates scheduled and charter flights from a number of UK airports, including Birmingham, London Gatwick, London Luton and Manchester. Scheduled flights operate to destinations throughout Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Egypt, Turkey and Gibraltar.”

Copyright Photo: Nik French. The revised color scheme that only lasted for one roundtrip. Please click on the photo for information.

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Monarch Airlines Airbus A320-212 G-MONX (msn 392) LTN (Antony J. Best), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) has announced a significant expansion into the Mediterranean for the summer of 2012, launching 14 new flights across Italy, Croatia and Greece.

The new routes have been introduced in support of Monarch’s plan to expand. The two-pronged strategy focuses on scheduled services and introducing new flights to leisure destinations across Europe.

Two additional Airbus A320 aircraft will be added to Monarch’s fleet in March 2012.

This is the start of the expansion plan that will see an increase from 30 to 40 aircraft with a view to offering more flights including flights to Rome and Venice.

Monarch Airlines’ new routes for Summer 2012 include:

— Manchester to Dubrovnik, Milan, Venice and Verona

— Birmingham to Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Milan, Rome and Venice

— London Gatwick to Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Milan and Venice

— London Luton to Rome

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best.

Monarch Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Monarch Airlines Airbus A321-231 G-OZBM (msn 1045) GVA (Paul Denton), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) has received a $121 million capital injection from the Mantegazza family.

The airline also announced plans to launch 14 new routes to Italy, Greece and Croatia on March 25, 2012 from Manchester and Birmingham as well as London Luton and London Gatwick.

Read the full story from the Mirror: CLICK HERE

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Monarch routes from Birmingham:

Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) has modified its color scheme again, this time increasing the size of the titles. Airbus A321-231 G-OZBT (msn 3546) was the first to receive the changed livery.

Monarch talked about the change on their blog:

“It’s not every day an aircraft is treated to a makeover, but this week a Monarch A321-231 plane was given a sparkling new treatment inside and out. Shiny new decals have been applied to the exterior, while the interior has been freshened up, with new head rest covers and fun new window shades.

Following instructions on a highly detailed technical drawing, it took two specialist technicians two nights to prepare and install the decals, with one side of the plane completed each night. Spanning some 335 square feet (31 square metres), the Monarch brand now covers a third of each side of the fuselage of G-OZBT.

First of all the fuselage was carefully cleaned and dried, before blank white decals were applied to cover existing painted-on wording. Once the self-adhesive decals were smoothed on, they were carefully trimmed and sealed around the edges.

The first of 30 aircraft to be redecorated, G-OZBT can be spotted at our London Gatwick and Birmingham bases in the UK, and will be used for flights to Faro, Menorca, Dalaman and Palma, as well as flights to Spain.

Monarch’s fleet is a mixture different sized and shaped aircraft, including A330s, A300s, A320s and B757s, which presents an interesting challenge for the operations department and graphic artists. Each of the aircraft will have decals specifically tailored to fit the appropriate fuselage and the new livery will appear on the fleet over the coming months. Keep an eye out!”

Monarch Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Photo: Monarch Airlines.

Monarch Airlines (London-Luton) has finally officially announced it has cancelled its order for six Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Read the full story from Travel Weekly: CLICK HERE

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