Monarch's New Midlands' Flights on Sale From 18 May 2012

LONDON, May 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Leading scheduled leisure airline, Monarch, last week announced it is to introduce additional frequencies and a new route from Birmingham airport this summer, plus launch a new base and flights from East Midlands airport.  These flights will be on sale from Friday 18 May 2012.

The routes, which have been announced in reaction to the news that bmibaby is to close, include new flights from East Midlands airport to Malaga, Alicante, Palma and Faro, plus additional frequencies from Birmingham airport to Malaga, Alicante, Faro, Palma and the new flights to Rome.  There will also be a new route between Birmingham and Barcelona. The flights from Birmingham will operate in addition to Monarch's existing network of services to Alicante, Almeria, Bodrum, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Grenoble*, Heraklion, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Madeira*, Majorca, Malaga, Menorca, Milan, Munich*, Paphos, Rome, Sharm el Sheikh*, Tenerife and Venice.  

Commenting on the new Midlands' services, Managing Director of Monarch Airlines, Kevin George said, "Monarch is delighted to be launching the new and additional services from both Birmingham and East Midlands airports, which will support travellers in the region left without flights to some of their favourite leisure destinations once bmibaby closes.  The services, which account for 25% of bmibaby's existing routes from the Midlands, will commence this summer and provide customers with a quality alternative for all their holiday flights."

Monarch's new and additional flights from Birmingham and East Midlands airports will be available to book via http://www.monarch.co.uk from Friday 18 May, when full schedules and timetables will be published.

*Flights launch autumn/winter 2012

Note 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
Jo Leigh in the press office
Tel: +44(0)1582-398-287
Email: jo.leigh@monarch.co.uk