History Of An Airline Feature Monarch

Welcome to the fourth installment of the History Of An Airline Feature. This week we will be looking at the British charter airline Monarch. The airline is the oldest surviving charter service in the UK that has kept its original name as it was back in the 70's, 80's and early 90's.

Monarch Airlines are based at Luton Airport and are one of the largest charter airlines in the UK. They have a fleet of 32 aircraft flying to over 100 destinations in India, Africa, Caribbean, United States and Europe.

1960's

Monarch were formed in 1967 by two men named Don Peacock and Bill Hodgson, who were financially supported by the Albek and Mantegazza families from Switzerland. These two families are still the owners today. The first commercial flight was on the 5th of April 1968 which flew from Luton to Madrid in a Bristol Britannia 175 turboprop aircraft. Monarch at this time was made up of just two of these aircraft. In 1969 the airline increased their fleet to six of the Bristol Britannia aircraft carrying 250,000 passengers in only their second year.

1970's

The aircraft were again upgraded in 1971 with the first jet aircraft entering service with Monarch. These were three Boeing 720Bs that were previously operated by Northwest Airlines. The first service from Monarch using jet aircraft was on December the 13th 1971 along with a brand new livery for all their aircraft. By 1972 the airline were carrying 500,000 passengers in a one year period. In 1976 the last of the airlines turboprop aircraft were retired leaving the airline an all-jet fleet. As well as their existing jet aircraft the airline purchased a further two Boeing 720Bs as well as two BAC One-Eleven 500s that were previously operated by British Caledonian. In 1979 control of Monarch Airlines switched to Alan Snudden who had held the same position with Dan-Air previously.

1980's

In 1980 Monarch purchased brand new aircraft for the first time. These new aircraft were delivered in 1980 and were two Boeing 737-200 'advanced' aircraft. The new aircraft were delivered at the end of 1980 with one being based at Tegel Airport in the former West Berlin in Germany for the duration of the 1981 summer season. At this time Monarch had a total of eleven jet airliners with the addition of the two Boeing 737's. The entire fleet consisted of a single Boeing 707, five Boeing 720Bs, three BAC One-Eleven 500s and two Boeing 737-200's. This year was also the year that Monarch Airlines carried a million passengers for the first time, as well as placing an order for the brand new Boeing 757 of which they ended up being the launch customer for.

From left to right: Boeing 707, Boeing 707 interior, Original Boeing 737-100 (previous model to Monarch 737-200 version)

Monarch placed an order for five of the brand new Boeing 757-200 aircraft that were fitted with Rolls Royce engines. It made Monarch the first charter airline in the UK and Europe to operate the new state-of-the-art aircraft. The first Boeing 757 arrived in spring 1983 after which the livery of the airlines aircraft was changed. This new livery is illustrated below.

Airbus A300B4-605R in 1983-2002 Monarch livery -  image: copyright kpmarek 2008

The delivery of the new Boeing 757 aircraft was a major milestone for a small airline and the third livery update in the airlines history. Moving into 1985 and the Spring saw the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) award Monarch Airlines a licence to run services to Minorca, Malaga and Tenerife. This resulted in the first scheduled service from Luton to Minorca and under a different name, Monarch Crown Service.

New aircraft were added to the Monarch fleet in 1986 with the arrival of the Boeing 737-300 aircraft. A couple of years later Monarch began to lease their 737's to EuroBerlin France, and by 1990 seven of the aircraft had been leased to the group. 1988 had also seen the group reach its two million passenger milestone.

1990's

The beginning of the 1990's saw delivery of the Airbus A300-600R aircraft (pictured above) that was the first widebodied airliner Monarch had operated. The airline also operated a number of Boeing 767's for the Alitalia airline in a deal that was very similar to the one that had been reached between Monarch and EuroBerlin France. The mid-1990's saw the airline take delivery of the Airbus A320 which were brought in to replace the fleet of ageing Boeing 737-300's. 1998 saw the introduction of the McDonnell Douglas MD11 widebodied airliner in a deal with World Airways for the groups long-haul flights that were used to fill the gap whilst waiting for the arrival of their newly ordered Airbus A330-200 airliners. The MD11 aircraft were returned to World Airways in 1999 when the A330-200 aircraft were delivered.

World Airways MD11 (cargo variant) - kpmarek image

2000 - Onwards

Moving into the year 2000 and Monarch embraced the digital and internet boom by launching its website flymonarch.com. Monarch also retired their only remaining McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft in 2002 and donated the front section to the Manchester Airport Aviation Viewing Park which can currently be viewed. We have covered the Manchester Airport Aviation Viewing Park in our local attractions section which can be found here. The website for the park can also be found here.

In 2002 the airline unveiled its fourth livery change as well as re-branding its Monarch Crown Service to Monarch Scheduled. The Monarch Scheduled service still ran a no-frills service in order to compete with the likes of easyjet and Ryanair.

2005 saw the airline lease a Boeing 767 aircraft from MyTravel Airways due to a worldwide shortage of Airbus A330 widebodied airliners due to their popularity. In November of that year they also launched services to Newquay, Blackpool, Malaga and Aberdeen. In addition to this the airline added an Airbus A321 to their fleet from bmi.

2006 saw Monarch order the Boeing 787-8 'Dreamliner' widebodied aircraft and will be used to run the airlines long haul routes when it is delivered. There have been delays to the construction however and Monarch now expect to take delivery of the first 787 in 2011. The 787 aircraft will eventually replace the airlines Airbus A300 and A330 aircraft and their Boeing 767's. In 2007 Monarch were awarded the Leisure Airline of the Year at the Travel Trade Gazette Awards, which was the second time that they had won the award.

A modern Monarch airliner in flight - image sourced from www.flymonarch.com

Monarch Airlines are the only remaining charter airline in the UK that have retained the same name as they originally had all the way back in 1967.

Images in this feature are used with the kind permission of Boeing and kpmarek

Published by: Jon Vickery