Monarch Airlines will cease charter flying at the end of the winter season and operate solely scheduled flights next summer.
Chief executive Andrew Swaffield confirmed the move this week, telling Travel Weekly: “We’ll say goodbye to charter for good. We’re moving from the last vestiges of a charter airline to scheduled next year.”
He also confirmed a strategic review is under way covering “all areas of the business from operations to ownership and financing”, following media reports of potential new investment in the group, which is controlled by the Mantegazza family.
The Mantegazzas have already injected funds twice in the past five years – £75 million in 2011 and £45 million in 2009.
Swaffield joined Monarch as managing director in April and took over as group chief executive in July. He declined to give details about the refinancing, saying only: “We’re talking to our shareholder about our capital base.”
But he said charter operations would end, adding: “Charter is very much the past. It introduces complexity, introduces cost and is confusing for customers.
“Fabio Mantegazza said in 2006 that charter flying was dying. We’ve gone from 100% charter to 15% and I’m finishing the journey.
“We’ll be entirely scheduled from next April – a European scheduled low cost carrier.”
But Swaffield said: “The experience we have with operators is a great asset. We’ve been working with them for 46 years, and the role of a low-cost carrier that can work with tour operators is a space for us.
“We’ll continue to sell seats through tour operators. We work with some and would like to do more. I believe we can create a very appealing model.”
Swaffield added: “There are too many planes chasing too few passengers and that is not a mistake I intend to make. We are not going to chase growth.”
Cosmos will continue to operate scheduled and third-party charter flights.