Monarch chief executive launches own consultancy
Monarch chief executive Andrew Swaffield has set up a consultancy business named after his polo team.
The new firm Alcedo Consulting was registered yesterday at Companies House, hours after the Monarch Group collapsed.
Swaffield was listed as the only director.
Monarch ceased trading on Monday, causing the loss of almost 1,900 jobs and affecting around 850,000 customers.
Around 242 Monarch staff have been retained by administrators KPMG to help assist the Civil Aviation Authority with repatriating passengers.
Swaffield described yesterday as a ‘heartbreaking day’.
He was brought into Monarch in 2014 to try to transform the airline’s fortunes. He had previously served a stint as managing director of British Airways Holidays before moving to the role of British Airways head of UK and Ireland leisure sales from 2001 to 2005.
From 2006 to 2014 he was managing director of the IAG-owned Avios rewards scheme.
Swaffield, 50, describes himself on his Linkedin profile as ‘an experienced CEO with expertise in aviation, leisure travel, loyalty and restructuring’.
He goes on to state that he has over 25 years of management experience, including at the Monarch Group where he ‘led a major restructuring, stripping £200 million from the cost base and securing new owners’.
Yesterday, following Monarch’s collapse, Swaffield told the BBC’s Today progamme that the company was facing an annual loss of more than £100 million.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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