Monarch Airlines collapse: Runway slots set for speedy sell-off as rivals tussle

Collapsed Monarch’s valuable take-off and landing slots at airports including Gatwick, Manchester and Luton could be sold within days, it emerged on Tuesday.

The bust airline’s administrator, KPMG, confirmed it would auction off the slots, with rival airlines including easyJet, Jet2 and IAG queuing up to buy them.

However, no specific deadline has been set for achieving a sale.

The auction process is complicated by the fact the slots have to be used by the Civil Aviation Authority over the next fortnight to repatriate travellers who were booked on Monarch holidays and flights.

A source close to the auction process told the Standard: “Our priority right now is working on the repatriation and using as many of the slots as possible, so that we inconvenience as few passengers as possible.”

The fast-approaching end of the summer season is also a factor, since Monarch has to use 80% of the slots allocated to it for summer or risk losing them from the administrator’s auction to the pool for a general sell-off.

Monarch’s former owner Greybull Capital stands to benefit from the auction of slots, since it is first in the queue of secured creditors to the company.

The Government, which is spending £60 million on bringing passengers home, will receive nothing. Monarch’s chief executive Andrew Swaffield said he was “devastated” by the administration but said it had been on track to lose £100 million in 2018.

A price war on flights to Spain and Portugal damaged profits, he said.