HUNDREDS of Monarch staff at Birmingham Airport have been made redundant following the collapse of the airiline.
Administrators KPMG bought in to run the company have made 389 staff at the airport redundant. They are among 1,858 staff at Monarch Airlines Limited and Monarch Travel Group staff across the country to lose their jobs.
It follows the collapse of the business, the UK’s fifth largest air carrier, which went into administration early on Monday (October 2), leaving more than 100,000 customers stranded overseas.
Administrator Blair Nimmo said: “We know that it has been a very sad and difficult for the Monarch employees.
“Shortly before the appointment of the joint administrators, all employees received an email from the company confirming that it was about to enter administration.
“Following this, the absolute priority for me and my team was to try and make contact with all members of staff as soon as possible, in order that we could communicate what the administration means for them.
“Regrettably, with the business no longer able to fly, a significant number of redundancies were made.
“Over the coming days, my team will be doing all it can to assist the employees in submitting claims to the Redundancy Payments Office for monies owed.”
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is currently busy working to make arrangements to fly home the stranded passengers.
CAA chief executive Andrew Haines said: “We know that Monarch’s decision to stop trading will be very distressing for all of its customers and employees.
“This is the biggest UK airline ever to cease trading, so the Government has asked the CAA to support Monarch customers currently abroad to get back to the UK at the end of their holiday at no extra cost to them.
“We are putting together, at very short notice and for a period of two weeks, what is effectively one of the UK’s largest airlines to manage this task.
“The scale and challenge of this operation means that some disruption is inevitable. We ask customers to bear with us as we work around the clock to bring everyone home.”
The CAA has a dedicated website monarch.caa.co.uk, which provides advice and information for affected customers, and a 24 hour helpline (0300 303 2800 from in the UK and Ireland, and +44 1753 330330 from overseas) to provide additional assistance.
Customers currently overseas should check monarch.caa.co.uk for confirmation of their new flight details.
