Monarch Airlines Launch 12 New Flights for Winter 2012/13 & Ski Flights Including Grenoble and Munich

LONDON, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Leading scheduled leisure airline, Monarch, has announced plans to launch a total of twelve new routes for winter 2012/13 including scheduled flights from Leeds Bradford International Airport for the first time.

Expanding on its already extensive network of scheduled destinations, ten of the new routes will provide easy access to some of Europe's best winter ski resorts via Grenoble airport in France and Friedrichshafen and Munich airports in Germany.

Grenoble, Friedrichshafen and Munich airports are famed for their excellent links to ski resorts covering the Western, Central & Northern and also Eastern Alps in France, Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria.  Complementing these new services, the airline's existing services to Milan, Venice and Verona, which will operate year-round, are ideally placed for access to the Southern Alps and the Dolomites. In addition Munich provides year-round appeal with many seasonal and cultural events such as the world's largest fair, Oktober Fest, held annually for 16 days in September and October.

The remaining three routes will target holidaymakers craving winter sun with new flights to the Portuguese island of Madeira and an expansion of its existing programme to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.

The 12 routes will launch at different stages over the autumn/winter period with Munich flights launching from mid September and Madeira and Sharm el Sheikh routes launching from the end of October 2012.  Flights to Grenoble and Friedrichshafen routes will launch mid-December and will run until early April 2013 concluding with the Easter holidays.

Flights to Munich and Grenoble airport will be further supported with additional flights from Leeds Bradford International Airport.

Kevin George, Managing Director of Monarch Airlines comments: "The launch of these  routes for winter 2012/13 marks an exciting new era for Monarch as we introduce our first programme of scheduled ski flights and target a new customer base of skiers looking to fly to Grenoble, Friedrichshafen, Munich as well as via our numerous Italian destinations. The network will also be further strengthened by the addition of services from Leeds Bradford International Airport which will be launching this winter, and we are delighted to be able to bring our high levels of care and service to customers travelling from West Yorkshire in the future.

He continues: "This news comes on the back of our announcement last week regarding Monarch's expansion in the Midlands through the introduction of additional frequencies and routes from Birmingham Airport, and the launch of a new base at East Midlands Airport from late summer 2012.  The addition of expanded services in the Midlands, combined with 12 new winter routes will add almost one million seats to the Monarch programme over the next 12 months and supports our growth plans for the airline over the coming years."

New scheduled flights for Winter 2012/13

London Gatwick

Friedrichshafen - 4 x flights per week

Funchal (Madeira) - 3 x flights per week

London Luton

Munich - 4 x flights per week

Manchester

Friedrichshafen - 2 x flights per week

Grenoble - 3 x flights per week

Munich - 4 x flights per week

Birmingham

Funchal (Madeira) - 2 x flights per week

Grenoble - 3 x flights per week

Munich - 4 x flights per week

Sharm el Sheikh - 2 x flights per week

** NEW ** Leeds Bradford

Grenoble - 3 x flights per week

Munich - 2 x flights per week

Notes to editors

Monarch, the leading scheduled leisure airline, has to date operated flights to Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Portugal Spain and Turkey from Birmingham, London Gatwick, London Luton and Manchester airports. In addition to year-round low fares, Monarch also offers a bespoke "build your own class of travel" range of products and services both on the ground and inflight.  Monarch has always aimed at offering high quality service - all customers are allocated a seat at check-in, but for those wishing to select where in the cabin they sit to ensure that families and groups are seated together, seats can be pre-booked from £5.99 per one-way flight.  For customers looking for added comfort, extra legroom seats are also available offering up to six inches of extra space from only £9.99.

Monarch recently launched 'Air Packs' enabling customers to build their own flights through transparent and pre-packaged optional extras, starting from just £20 per person per flight. The two new Air Packs are offered alongside the airline's traditional "build your own class" product and are designed to give customers full visibility on price from the beginning of the booking process. Customers are able to choose between two Monarch Air Packs: an Essentials Pack and a Premium Pack, combining extras such as allocated seating, hold baggage and access to online check-in.

Customers can also take advantage of MFlex, which provides improved flexibility for customers when booking flights on Monarch's scheduled network of flights.  Charged at only £2.50 per person, per flight, the new MFlex product must be added at the time of booking.  Once added, the customer is free to make one change to their booking up to 15 days prior to departure, which includes a date change or a route change, without incurring an administration fee*.  What's more, if a customer selects MFlex when booking, but makes no subsequent changes to their booking, Monarch will refund them the value of MFlex in the form of a credit voucher, which can be used as part payment towards a future scheduled flight with Monarch.

For further information or to book Monarch flights please visit http://www.monarch.co.uk

For further media information contact
Charlotte Hawley in the press office
Tel: +44(0)1582-398-241
Email: charlotte.hawley@monarch.co.uk