Monarch Airlines cessa le operazioni con effetto immediato dopo una lunghissima crisi finanziaria. La compagnia inglese operava su Torino 3 voli settimanali invernali per sciatori, provenienti da Gatwick, Manchester e Birmingham, quasi interamente charterizzati, in concorrenza con Jet2, easyjet, Ryanair, Thomson e Blueair. Vedremo se i competitors inglesi subentreranno su queste rotte da Torino, potenziando i voli esistenti; per superare la contingenza intanto la CAA ha ingaggiato la Qatar Airways, che sta posizionando in Inghilterra diverse macchine attualmente inutilizzate.

Nella foto, Monarch in un’apparizione a Caselle, immortalata da Beppe Miglietti.

(Reuters) – The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Monday Britain’s Monarch Airlines [MONA.UL] ceased operations with immediate effect, leaving 110,000 customers stranded overseas and about 300,000 future bookings cancelled.

“We’re sorry to announce that Monarch has suspended flights and holidays,” Monarch said on Twitter. bit.ly/2wrQBpZ

Tough competition in the airlines sector has been putting pressure on weaker European carriers and driving consolidation, with Air Berlin and Alitalia filing for insolvency this year and seeking new investors for parts of their business.

“This is the UK’s largest ever airline to enter administration,” CAA said.

The government has asked CAA to charter more than 30 aircraft to bring back to the UK Monarch Airlines customers currently overseas, CAA said in a statement. bit.ly/2wsQ5rQ

The government has begun the biggest ever peacetime repatriation effort to return the affected passengers, Department for Transport, Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement.

Monarch said on Thursday it was talking to potential partners after a report that parts of its short-haul network would be sold.