EXCLUSIVE:
MONARCH Airlines has ditched all flights to Bodrum for 2016 – leaving thousands of UK tourists and second-home owners scrambling for alternatives next season, Voices has discovered.
Bodrum Airport has been the main holiday airport for low-cost flight passengers accessing the bright lights of Bodrum, its peninsula and those travelling to Akbuk and Didim for their holidays.
Monarch has been one of the traditional UK airlines flying into Bodrum for a number of years from the likes of London airports, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds-Bradford.
Yet, Monarch apparently failed to mention its intention to ditch the Bodrum route when it announced its 2016 summer schedule in July. It will still fly from the UK to Dalaman and Antalya, though, next season.
Shake-up
The news was confirmed this morning (Thurs Sept 10) when Voices contacted the Monarch press office. In response to a question, the company said: “Our summer schedule for 2016 is already on sale and has been since July.
“Following the thorough network review we have stopped flying to Bodrum and as a result flights are not on sale for summer 2016. We still offer Dalaman and Antalya to Turkey for summer 2016.”
In an August 27 entry on the Turkish Travels blog by Didim holidaymaker Kristian Stevens – http://www.turkishtravels.info/ – he first reported Monarch ditching Bodrum for 2016.
He said: “In 2015, Monarch pulled Bodrum flights from both Leeds-Bradford and Manchester as part of cost-cutting measures, as well as shedding 300 of its 4000 staff and selling off 8 planes.”
The shake-up of Monarch’s flight network lies back some 12 months in the wake of the business being handed a £125m lifeline by investment firm Greybull Capital.
Bailout
As part of the bailout Greybull and Monarch chief executive Andrew Swaffield, put in place a restructuring of the business which saw 700 jobs lost and pay-cuts of 30pc for pilots.
The business also stopped flights from East Midlands airport and ditched unprofitable routes, as well as axing flights to far-flung destinations such as Tobago.
However, there appeared to be no mention of the Bodrum flight being axed in a July 1 press release by Monarch as it announced its 2016 summer schedule.
In the release, Monarch said: “The airline has released more than 80% of its summer schedule with further flights to be added next month. There are 32 destinations now on sale for Summer 16.
Plan ahead
“The schedule includes some of the airline’s most popular summer beach destinations including the Algarve, Majorca, Dalaman and Sharm el Sheikh, as well as ideal city breaks like Barcelona, Rome and Venice.”
Marjan Schoeke, Head of Network Development for Monarch Airlines added: “We know our customers like time to plan their holidays in advance and take advantage of the best fares.
“We are pleased to be able to release the most popular routes and destinations for advanced sale and give our customers a head start on planning next summer’s break.”