Less than two months after Monarch Airlines was on the verge of collapsing, they have stopped offering Atol cover on flight-only bookings from the UK.
Atol protection ensures that customers will get a refund, or be repatriated free of charge if they are already abroad, should their travel company suffer economically.
The move will make Monarch flights slightly cheaper in a ferociously competitive market.
Package holidays sold by the airline continue to be covered by Atol. It was insisted upon by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) at the time of Monarch’s sale to Greybull Capital in 2014. In late September 2016, when the carrier’s license was coming up for renewal, the CAA was so concerned that Monarch might fail that it set up a “shadow airline”, which chartered jets in place to bring passengers home in the event of a collapse.
The drop of Atol cover on flight-only bookings should be seen as “a clear sign of our financial stability,” according to a statement from the airline.
It has also scrapped credit card charges, which had added three per cent to the cost of a booking.
