Eastern Mediterranean specialist operator Olympic Holidays has said it will operate its full 2011 summer programme despite talks on a new deal with charter carrier Monarch Airways breaking down.
All references to flying with Monarch were taken off the Olympic website last week after what, Travel Weekly understands, were protracted negotiations.
However, Photis Lambrianides, commercial director at Olympic, claimed some Monarch flights were still bookable on its system, although he said talks were ongoing with other carriers.
It is understood winter flights are still bookable through Olympic but not for summer 2011.
Lambrianides refused to discuss commercial negotiations with suppliers but did say: “Olympic Holidays will be flying our full programme to Greece for 2011; our plans are there – they have not altered in any way.
“We cannot, as a matter of policy, discuss commercial issues with suppliers because they are sensitive.
“There have been discussions, but our full programme is there and we are starting very aggressive campaigns with the trade.”
In a statement Monarch said: “Monarch has taken a business decision, based upon the discussions and communications it has had with Olympic Holidays, and has concluded that it is very unlikely to reach an agreement for summer 2011 capacity on terms and within pre-notified timescales that meet Monarch’s business requirements.
“In these circumstances, the Monarch Group believes it is in its best interests, and in order to give Olympic a reasonable opportunity to secure its capacity requirements from other sources, to conclude now that the sensible course is to terminate discussions regarding summer 2011.
“Monarch remains open to the possibility of future business cooperation with Olympic for seasons after summer 2011 if mutually satisfactory terms can be agreed.”
The Monarch Group is understood to have absorbed all of Olympic’s 2011 Greece flying, estimated by industry sources at around 250,000 seats, into its own tour operator programmes.
Sources told Travel Weekly that buyers from the Monarch group were busy contracting rooms in Greece for next year as Cosmos Holidays looked to take up the additional capacity.
Lambrianides said Olympic Holidays was in discussions with other carriers including those operated by the big two, Jet2.com and overseas airlines such as Pegasus, which it uses for flying to Turkey.
It is also talking to Viking Airlines AB, the Sweden-based charter carrier that entered bankruptcy protection this month and which hopes to refinance before reviving a summer 2011 flying programme from the UK.
A number of failures this year, including those of Kiss Flights and Goldtrail Holidays, have prompted concerns over access to affordable flying for many UK independent operators.
At the Abta Travel Convention in Malta in October, Fabio Mantegazza, chairman of Monarch Holdings, the carrier’s parent, indicated the group was not prepared to match prices at the lower end of the market.
Speaking about the failure of firms selling budget seats, he said: “It’s a question of price. There was a reason those flights were cheap. We are not going to go in and play a game that’s not suited to our way of doing business.
“The people who sold that capacity were extremely resourceful and ingenious but there was inherent risk, and we cannot expose ourselves to those risks.”