UK destinations for Gibraltar passengers cut by one third with demise of Monarch Airlines

PRIOR to the announcement that Monarch Airlines had gone into Administration, it was possible to travel from Gibraltar to six different airports in the UK and now that is cut to four.

Destinations were Birmingham, Bristol, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Manchester but with the demise of Monarch, Birmingham and Luton are now no longer available as direct flight destinations and Manchester flights with easyJet may become busier.

The Civil Aviation Authority in the UK has been arranging for passengers protected by ATOL terms to be flown to Britain on chartered aircraft although some passengers have been coached to Malaga in order to catch their flights.

The Gibraltar government has issued press releases concerning the situation for a range of different passengers booked to travel within the next two weeks and has rejected criticisms of lack of activity levelled at it by the Gibraltar Social Democrats opposition party.

Certainly the reduction of a number of UK destinations will not help the Gibraltar tourism industry, but no doubt if the affected routes were profitable, other airlines will be quick to offer to step in and take them over.