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Monarch to compete with Ryanair and easyJet as it steers away from package holidays

Szu Ping Chan, 10:15, Wednesday 1 June 2011

Monarch is to end nearly four decades as a charter airline and shift its focus to scheduled flights, as more tourists shy away from traditional package holidays towards cheaper internet deals.
The brand revamp, labelled 'Fly your way. Every day', will see the British carrier compete directly with budget airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair, as well as British Airways (Other OTC: BABWF.PK - news) in the scheduled market.
By next summer, Monarch expects 80pc of its business to be scheduled, compared with just 20pc five years ago. The company will continue to offer package holidays, but this will only form a small part of its business.
In a bid to differentiate itself from other budget airlines, Monarch has also scrapped all debit card booking fees from today, while payments by credit card will incur a flat fee of £10 per booking.
Monarch said it was in negotiations with credit card companies to reduce fees further, and pledged to pass any savings on.
Conrad Clifford, chief executive of Monarch Group, said: “Obviously, we would prefer not have to charge customers for using any payment cards at all. But by abolishing debit card fees and introducing a flat fee for using credit cards, we are doing everything we can to be transparent and fair to our customers.”
Ryanair currently charges £12 per return flight for paying with a debit or credit card, while easyJet charges £8 per booking, plus extra fees for credit card payments.
Monarch travellers can also take advantage of services such as six inches of extra legroom for £9.99, and the option of booking in-flight meals in advance.
Mr Clifford added: “The refreshed brand is the visual manifestation of a strategic shift in the business that will give consumers the widest possible choice of services both on the ground and inflight.”
Monarch suffered heavy losses of £30.3m in 2009. It only just managed to turn this around in 2010, posting pre-tax profits of £1.4m, in the year to October 31.

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