Jet2 adds 55,000 seats from Birmingham Airport in wake of Monarch collapse
Budget air travel group Jet2, which only started operating at Birmingham Airport earlier this year, has added 55,000 seats to its winter schedule just days after the collapse of rival carrier Monarch.
The extra flights will fill schedule gaps left by Monarch, which had been operating up to 20 flights a day from Birmingham.
Meanwhile the airlift organised by the Civil Aviation Authority brought another 17 plane-loads of Monarch passengers back to Birmingham yesterday.
It followed the airport's busiest day for returning Monarch customers on Tuesday, with 32 flights bringing hundreds home. Around 18,000 people are due back into Birmingham this week as the CAA works to return 110,000 Monarch customers over the next fortnight.
The CAA said it had so far brought 23,321 customers home on more than 119 flights in the first two days of its airlift, with another 11,091 due back nationwide on 54 flights yesterday from destinations across Europe and around the Mediterranean
Richard Moriarty, group director of the consumers and markets group of the CAA, said: “Our operation to bring people home continues to progress well, with a total of 23,321 people already back in the UK, including the first planeload of passengers from Greece. We are planning 54 flights on October 4, for an additional 11,091 people.
“Fight details for people due to travel back to the UK on October 5 are already published on monarch.caa.co.uk, our dedicated website which has already seen over one million visitors over the past couple of days. We have everyone’s original flight details and our plan is to publish new flight details as soon as possible, normally 24 hours in advance of travel."
Birmingham was one of Monarch's biggest operations, with 10 aircraft based at the airport and around 500 staff who have lost their jobs. Another 150 work for Monarch's aircraft maintenance business at Birmingham, which has been unaffected by the collapse.
Budget carrier Jet2.com and its Jet2holidays launched at Birmingham in the spring, basing four Boeing passenger jets at the airport and creating 200 jobs.
It said adding 55,000 winter seats meant it would be offering 300,000 seats on sale in its first winter programme from Birmingham Airport.
To support this expansion, the company is bringing in additional aircraft, taking its fleet size by the end of winter at Birmingham to six.
William Pearson, aviation director at Birmingham Airport, said: “Following the sad news that Monarch Airlines ceased trading on Monday, we would like to thank Jet2.com and Jet2holidays which has added additional capacity to its network from Birmingham. This will give more choice when booking flights to popular destinations including Alicante, Faro, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Malaga, Majorca, Rome and Tenerife.”
Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: “A number of factors have resulted in increased demand for our award-winning flights and ATOL protected package holidays. To meet that demand we have added extra capacity from Birmingham Airport so that holidaymakers can continue to reach their favourite winter sun and city destinations from their local airport.
"We won’t be stopping at these winter flights, so keep an eye out for further announcements about additional Summer 18 capacity very soon.”
