Aircraft ready to pick up Monarch holidaymakers if firm halts flights

UK regulators have 10 aircraft ready to pick up Monarch Airlines holidaymakers if the low-cost carrier halts flights, according to media reports.

Two of the aircraft, which were all leased from Qatar Airways, are at London Stansted Airport, the Sunday Times reported, without saying where it had got the information. A spokesman for the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) declined to comment on the report on Sunday. A Monarch spokesman said its flights were operating as scheduled.

As many as 100,000 travellers could be stranded if Monarch halts flights, according to the newspaper. The closely held budget carrier is facing renewed financial pressures, after a last-minute rescue last year, prompting a strategic review and regulatory concerns about its future.

The CAA granted the airline a 24-hour extension to its air travel organiser’s licence on Saturday. The regulator plans to give daily updates on the carrier’s status under ATOL, a programme that protects holidaymakers against operators’ financial failures.