Emerald Crown
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:48 pm
On the fifth of April 1968 a new airline took to the skies with its inaugural flight from Luton to Madrid on a Bristol Britannia aircraft. Its name was Monarch Airlines sporting a yellow and black colour scheme with an M topped by crowns on the tail.
Formed as a subsidiary of Cosmos Tours to provide a seat supply for an ever expanding inclusive tour holiday business the airline went from strength to strength and added its first jet aircraft, three Boeing 720B, ex Northwest Airlines. In the early days most flights were from Luton however in 1974 Monarch operated from Birmingham to Calgary via Prestwick for a Solihull based travel agency. Monarch Britannia’s also popped up from time to time at Glasgow operating peak season flights for Thomson holidays or Ad Hoc charters.
As Cosmos expanded so did the airline adding ex Court Line BAC1-11’s for flights from Bristol as well as Luton. The 720s operated a Luton to St Lucia service on behalf of tour operator Pegasus whose European routes included Madrid, Munich and many Italian destinations. Cosmos initially used a Dan Air Comet based at Edinburgh then replaced it with a Monarch 720 as business prospered.
By the late 1970’s Boeing 737-200s joined the fleet with departures from Glasgow as well as Manchester and Luton. The popular Boeing 737-300 was added in the mid 1980s however Monarch introduced what was to become an industry icon and inclusive tour market game changer in 1983 - the Boeing 757. Powered by two Rolls Royce RB211-535 engines those aircraft carried up to 235 passengers and climbed like homesick angels. A refreshed colour scheme completed the new look for the airline.
At one point four 737-300’s were Glasgow based flying for Owners Abroad, Falcon, Enterprise, Wings/OSL and Thomson. Aircraft were not just UK based! Monarch obtained contracts from Neckerman and NUR from Berlin Tegel and with the reunification of East and West Germany formed EuroBerlin as a joint venture with Air France.
Meanwhile the 757s introduced long haul flying, albeit with fuel stops, to Orlando, Cancun, Acapulco, Puerto Plata, Goa, Mombasa, Trivandrum and a first from the UK; San Jose in Costa Rica. Short haul 737’s were kept active too. As the CAA eased restrictions on seat only sales Monarch was quick to grasp the nettle adding Crown Service from Luton to Malaga, Alicante, Mahon, Palma and Faro. Services were later expanded from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester too.
Monarch introduced wide bodied aircraft to its fleet buying four A300-600R aircraft for use on heavy density short and medium haul routes and well as long haul with a fuel stop. These aircraft were usually based at LGW and MAN but still visited GLA on occasions, usually on Orlando flights.
Egypt became a popular destination with flights to Sharm El Sheikh, Luxor, Aswan and Hurghada. Never one to shy away from new contracts and destinations Monarch worked with Hayes and Jarvis, Voyages Jules Verne and Renaissance Cruises operating to Egypt, Costa Rica, India, Damascus, as well as round the world air cruises visiting Easter Island amongst other exotic places.
The A300s were joined by two A330-200 and for a short time a DC10 and an ex Airtours 767-300: all operated from Glasgow to Florida as well as Cuba. Monarch also flew from ABZ to AGP, ALC and FAO for a couple of years.
The fleet utilisation was remarkable: a typical 757 would fly LGW-GVA-LGW followed by GOI on Saturday, returning Sunday for an evening MBA. Tuesday TFS then Wed LXR, Thursday ACE followed by TRV, then a Friday overnight TFS service. With ever expanding short haul services the airline turned to Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft while becoming the largest leisure airline at Birmingham with eleven based aircraft.
The good times sadly didn’t last. A shift from charter to scheduled services, competitor tour operators launching their own airlines: Airtours, Sunworld, Inspirations, all took their toll on the business and at one point during 2011 Monarch refused flying programmes from Olympic Holidays due to their unrealistic seat rates. Cosmos reduced its overall flying programmes reflecting the shift to seat only, property ownership and time share. Management changes failed to secure further profitability and the owners of Cosmos, the Mantegazzi family put Monarch up for sale as they no longer wished to inject further funding. A sale to the private equity company Greybull saw a shift from Airbus back to Boeing with an order for the737MAX but was not to be. Monarch collapsed in September 2017 months short of its half century.
A sad day indeed and an undeserved end for one of the UK’s best known and well loved companies which despite changing its image over the years refreshing black for purple then navy blue kept the yellow and crown logo to the very end.
Formed as a subsidiary of Cosmos Tours to provide a seat supply for an ever expanding inclusive tour holiday business the airline went from strength to strength and added its first jet aircraft, three Boeing 720B, ex Northwest Airlines. In the early days most flights were from Luton however in 1974 Monarch operated from Birmingham to Calgary via Prestwick for a Solihull based travel agency. Monarch Britannia’s also popped up from time to time at Glasgow operating peak season flights for Thomson holidays or Ad Hoc charters.
As Cosmos expanded so did the airline adding ex Court Line BAC1-11’s for flights from Bristol as well as Luton. The 720s operated a Luton to St Lucia service on behalf of tour operator Pegasus whose European routes included Madrid, Munich and many Italian destinations. Cosmos initially used a Dan Air Comet based at Edinburgh then replaced it with a Monarch 720 as business prospered.
By the late 1970’s Boeing 737-200s joined the fleet with departures from Glasgow as well as Manchester and Luton. The popular Boeing 737-300 was added in the mid 1980s however Monarch introduced what was to become an industry icon and inclusive tour market game changer in 1983 - the Boeing 757. Powered by two Rolls Royce RB211-535 engines those aircraft carried up to 235 passengers and climbed like homesick angels. A refreshed colour scheme completed the new look for the airline.
At one point four 737-300’s were Glasgow based flying for Owners Abroad, Falcon, Enterprise, Wings/OSL and Thomson. Aircraft were not just UK based! Monarch obtained contracts from Neckerman and NUR from Berlin Tegel and with the reunification of East and West Germany formed EuroBerlin as a joint venture with Air France.
Meanwhile the 757s introduced long haul flying, albeit with fuel stops, to Orlando, Cancun, Acapulco, Puerto Plata, Goa, Mombasa, Trivandrum and a first from the UK; San Jose in Costa Rica. Short haul 737’s were kept active too. As the CAA eased restrictions on seat only sales Monarch was quick to grasp the nettle adding Crown Service from Luton to Malaga, Alicante, Mahon, Palma and Faro. Services were later expanded from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester too.
Monarch introduced wide bodied aircraft to its fleet buying four A300-600R aircraft for use on heavy density short and medium haul routes and well as long haul with a fuel stop. These aircraft were usually based at LGW and MAN but still visited GLA on occasions, usually on Orlando flights.
Egypt became a popular destination with flights to Sharm El Sheikh, Luxor, Aswan and Hurghada. Never one to shy away from new contracts and destinations Monarch worked with Hayes and Jarvis, Voyages Jules Verne and Renaissance Cruises operating to Egypt, Costa Rica, India, Damascus, as well as round the world air cruises visiting Easter Island amongst other exotic places.
The A300s were joined by two A330-200 and for a short time a DC10 and an ex Airtours 767-300: all operated from Glasgow to Florida as well as Cuba. Monarch also flew from ABZ to AGP, ALC and FAO for a couple of years.
The fleet utilisation was remarkable: a typical 757 would fly LGW-GVA-LGW followed by GOI on Saturday, returning Sunday for an evening MBA. Tuesday TFS then Wed LXR, Thursday ACE followed by TRV, then a Friday overnight TFS service. With ever expanding short haul services the airline turned to Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft while becoming the largest leisure airline at Birmingham with eleven based aircraft.
The good times sadly didn’t last. A shift from charter to scheduled services, competitor tour operators launching their own airlines: Airtours, Sunworld, Inspirations, all took their toll on the business and at one point during 2011 Monarch refused flying programmes from Olympic Holidays due to their unrealistic seat rates. Cosmos reduced its overall flying programmes reflecting the shift to seat only, property ownership and time share. Management changes failed to secure further profitability and the owners of Cosmos, the Mantegazzi family put Monarch up for sale as they no longer wished to inject further funding. A sale to the private equity company Greybull saw a shift from Airbus back to Boeing with an order for the737MAX but was not to be. Monarch collapsed in September 2017 months short of its half century.
A sad day indeed and an undeserved end for one of the UK’s best known and well loved companies which despite changing its image over the years refreshing black for purple then navy blue kept the yellow and crown logo to the very end.
