Following bmibaby’s decision to stop flying from East Midlands Airport in June, Monarch is to step into the breach with new routes to serve local flyers.
Starting from late summer, travellers will be able to take flights to a variety of destinations including Malaga, Alicante, Palma and Faro.
The airline is increasing the frequency of its flights from Birmingham Airport on existing routes such as Rome and Palma, as well as introducing a new route to Barcelona.
Monarch’s managing director, Kevin George, also confirmed that services would continue to expand further in the East Midlands.
Loss-making bmibaby confirmed that flights (outbound and inbound) to East Midlands will end on 11 June to Amsterdam, Paris, Geneva, Nice, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newquay.
Flights to and from Knock and Amsterdam from Birmingham will also end on the same day. This is alongside the end of flights to and from Belfast.
“To help stem losses as quickly as possible and as a preliminary measure, we will be making reductions to Bmibaby’s flying programme from June,” said Peter Simpson, BMI interim managing director.
“We sincerely apologise to all customers affected and will be providing full refunds and doing all we can with other airlines to mitigate the impact of these changes.”
Bmibaby will be completely grounded from 10 September after new owner IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, failed to find a buyer.
Low-cost carrier Ryanair has also come to the aid of bmibaby passengers who had bookings from Belfast and Birmingham with “rescue fares” of £29.99 one way. The fares are available until 20 May and cover travel between 11 June and 27 October.
(Image: Deanster1983)
