Pilots demand government probe into Monarch collapse
Monarch pilots are demanding the government investigates the circumstances surrounding the collapse of Monarch after reports that Boeing injected cash into the ailing company’s offshore account, Petrol Jersey, last year.
The call from the pilots’ union BALPA for a probe into the financial bailout comes as transport secretary Chris Grayling announced that he is considering reforms which will mean failed airlines such as Monarch can ‘wind down in an orderly manner’.
Grayling told MPs he was keen to avoid a repeat of the Monarch collapse, which sparked the biggest ever peace time repatriation of Britons stranded overseas, at a cost of £60 million to the government, some of which it is attempting to recoup from third-party tour operators and travel agents who had bought seats on Monarch flights.
Grayling told the Commons that the government would examine any necessary reforms to ensure passengers ‘do not find themselves in this position again’.
He added: "We need to look at all the options… whether it’s possible for airlines to be able to wind down in an orderly manner and look after their customers themselves without the need for the government to step in.
"We’ll be putting a lot of effort into this in the months ahead."
Meanwhile BALPA, which represents the 400 Monarch pilots who lost their jobs when the airline collapsed last week, says they ‘want to know the truth about the sale of Monarch to Greybull Capital in 2014’.
It also wants the government to look into the role of the company’s former financial backers, the Swiss-based Mantegazza family.
The sale of Monarch by the Mantegazza’s to Greybull meant pilots had to accept 30% paycuts and ‘huge pension losses’, it said.
BALPA also wants the govermment to investigate a £165 million bailout of Monarch last year, which was initially thought to have been funded by Greybull but is now reported to have come from Boeing.
It says pilots also want to know the truth about the airline’s self-declared insolvency on October 2 ‘when it appears it could still have operated’.
BALPA general secretary Brian Strutton said: "Monarch pilots made huge pay and pensions sacrifices in 2014 to help Monarch turn itself around only to find that this was all in vain.
"They feel they did this simply to protect the financiers and they have been sacrificed in the process.
"There is a lot of understandable anger which, on the basis of recent reports, does seem to have some justification and there are concerns this mirrors the Philip Green/BHS pension stitch up.
"In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of Monarch customers who want to know what happened and why they were still being sold flights on 1 October when the company Board had already decided it was going into administration.
"For all these reasons, I believe the House of Commons Transport Committee should urgently investigate all the circumstances and make its findings public."
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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