450 jobs to go as Luton based Monarch Engineering collapses

The engineering arm of collapsed airline Monarch, which had its HQ in Luton, has fallen into administration, with the loss of 450 jobs.
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KPMG has been appointed to carry out the process after Monarch Aircraft Engineering, owned by private equity firm Greybull Capital, failed to ger back on track after a restructuring in October.

David Pike, restructuring partner at KPMG, said: “Following the administration of other Monarch entities in 2017, MAEL sought to build its customer base to replace the loss of business from the former airline.

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“Through the insolvency of the airline however, the company inherited significant debts and claims. Every effort has been made to turn around the business, including launching a CVA which sought to resolve these legacy debts.

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“Unfortunately, following the CVA, a number of customers reduced or sought to terminate their relationship with MAEL, further adversely impacting the business.”

Earlier this week, MAE said line maintenance operations at Gatwick, Birmingham, East Midlands, Newcastle and Glasgow Airports will be largely transferred to Morson Group, with the Luton Airport operations transferring to Storm Aviation.

Airline Monarch, which was also owned by Greybull, collapsed in 2017, leading to 1,858 workers being made redundant and the flights and holidays of about 860,000 people being cancelled.

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KPMG is still seeking buyers for the fleet technical support division, which employs 27, and the training academy, which has 53 people on its books.

Mr Pike added: “While it is pleasing agreements with a number of operators have been secured to ensure continuity of service at the majority of MAEL’s line maintenance stations, with only partial offers forthcoming for the rest of the business, the directors have taken the difficult step to appoint administrators.

“We will also be making every effort to provide support to those employees who have been affected by redundancy. As following the failure of the airline, employment fairs will be held in the coming days in Luton and Birmingham, to help these employees secure new roles.”