Monarch Aircraft Engineering LTD. Becomes Standalone Company After Airline Closes
In early October, Monarch Aircraft Engineering Limited (MAEL) became a standalone business, operating as normal, as Monarch Airlines and Monarch Travel Group enter Administration, a process similar to bankruptcy protection in the U. S.
MAEL employs over 730 staff at six locations in the UK and four overseas. The company has hangars at Birmingham and London Luton airports, and line maintenance stations at London Gatwick, London Luton, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Edinburgh, Nice, Malaga, Warsaw and Kiev.
Monarch Airlines was a significant customer for MAEL but its focus is now on servicing its other existing clients and securing new contracts. In the last several weeks MAEL has won a significant new contracts from Virgin Atlantic Airlines and others.
MAEL will carry out C1 checks for Virgin’s Boeing 787-9 fleet between 2017 and 2021. That maintenance work will be carried out at its state of the art facility at Birmingham Airport. The company recently signed a line maintenance agreement with China Airlines. The flag carrier is a new customer for MAEL who will carry out line maintenance work when China Airlines begin their London Gatwick service in December 2017. MAEL has also signed a new base maintenance agreement with Icelandair. The airline is a new base maintenance customer for MAEL who will carry out C-checks for Icelandair’s Boeing 757 cargo aircraft. This work will be done at their Luton Airport hangar and begins the end of October 2017.
Additionally, earlier this year, MAEL announced a joint venture partnership with Boeing Global Services (formerly Boeing GoldCare). The two companies are collaborating on securing additional third-party fleet servicing agreements, capitalizing on Boeing’s strength and reach within the industry and the expertise of MAEL.
“MAEL has always been a standalone business within the Monarch Group, holding its own cash, employees and property,” says Chris Dare, managing director at MAEL. “Despite what has happened at Monarch Airlines and Monarch Tour Group, MAEL continues to trade as normal with renewed focus on servicing our existing clients and winning new contracts. It’s business as usual – offering world-class engineering services to customers in Europe and around the world, in conjunction with our partner Boeing Global Services, following the recent partnership agreement. Our expanding customer base at Birmingham is testament to our efficient, reliable and high quality base maintenance team. As a new customer we look forward to welcoming 17 of Virgin’s Boeing 787 aircraft into our Birmingham hangar over the next four years.”
