Greybull Capital acquired Monarch Airlines over a "rescue deal" to purchase the ailing airline with the investment firm pumping in £125 million to save the company.
The London-based investment firm, Greybull Capital reportedly got hold of 90 percent stake in Monarch Holdings Limited, with the remaining 10 percent given to Monarch's defined pension scheme as well as the Pension Protection Fund.
Now, the major shareholder plans to focus the company's attention to five United Kingdom airports and also to cut its aircraft fleet from 42 to 34, in order to optimize its operations. Aside from that, charter flying and long-haul will stop by April.
The airline will run from London, Birmingham, Gatwick, Manchester, London Luton and Leeds-Bradford. However, it will stop its operations in the East Midlands airport starting next summer.
The deal will also see staff at the travel group to take paycuts, which , according to Daily Mail, they have agreed paycuts of "up to 30 percent eith more than 90 percent of unionized staff voting to accept changes, and some 700 redundancies, two-thirds of which were voluntary," Monarch Airline stated.
"I am delighted to welcome the Greybull team as the new owners of the Monarch Group. We have a shared vision for the strategic direction and prospects for the business, and I am looking forward to working with them to implement the exciting plans for building our future," as stated by Monarch Chief Executive Andrew Swaffield.
Meanwhile, the shareholders of Monarch expressed their gratitude and welcomed the change coming in the company, 'We are very proud to have created one of the most loved aviation brands in the UK over the last 46 years. We think that now is an appropriate time to allow new shareholders to take Monarch into the future with secure financial backing and clear strategic goals, and we wish the group every success,' Fabio Mantegazza said.
