Members of the Association of Independent Operators who used Monarch today pledged to contact all affected travellers to give them details of new flights.
Aito chairman Derek Moore said: “Those who booked scheduled flights independently, thinking they were saving money, may now be rueing their decision to do so – particularly those whose flights were booked for the coming winter months.
“People who have booked flight-only bookings that don’t now exist will simply have lost their money unless of course they have scheduled airline failure insurance. It’s time to check the insurance documents in detail.”
He attributed the failure of the airline to “the ridiculously-priced huge volume of flights available from the so-called ‘no frills’ carriers, which frequently sell flights at less than the cost of the aviation fuel that they consume”.
This has created “gross over-capacity,” he added.
“This excessive number of flights on the market is the cause of Monarch’s demise. It is nothing whatsoever to do with Brexit,” Moore said.
“While Ryanair’s chickens have come home to roost in the past couple of weeks with its huge number of flight cancellations, this has still meant that airlines such as Monarch have been hard-pushed to sell flights at what I’d call ‘real’ prices – prices that actually cover the cost of the service provided and allow a modicum of profit.
“From the consumer perspective, this is a timely reminder – on top of Ryanair’s mass cancellations – that the best way to book a flight is as part of a package with a specialist tour operator.
“Booking a package gives the consumer extensive rights and privileges, including rebooked flights and accommodation, etc., should things go wrong – at the tour operator’s expense rather than yours.”
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