From the end of October 2010, routes from Luton Airport to Spain and the Canary Islands will benefit from over one thousand extra seats, as veteran airline, Monarch, bolsters its winter sun campaign.
The carrier claims that flights to Alicante and Tenerife, two of the most popular ‘winter sun’ routes offered by Monarch, are in “huge demand,” as the number of passengers choosing to fly with the airline reached “record-breaking” levels.
A quick glance over the airline’s latest traffic figures reveals that Monarch’s PR team is telling the truth: the airline helped almost 465,000 people to their holiday destination in September 2010, compared to 429,000 during the same period last year, a rise of 8.26%.
Similarly, ‘load factors,’ roughly translated as the percentage of airline seats that were sold per aeroplane, were up 4.71% over 2009 figures.
Flights to Spanish resort, Malaga, from Manchester Airport will also benefit from extra seats this winter season. The Spanish city is Monarch’s highest performing route with a load factor of 96%, ahead of Almeria, also in Spain, with 95%.
Combined, extra flight capacity at Manchester and Luton should allow Monarch to carry an extra 2,000 passengers.
Monarch’s Luton route to Alicante will begin accepting extra passengers on October 22, with Tenerife and Manchester’s flight to Malaga following on 28 and 29 October, respectively. Tickets begin at £31.99, each way.
From Luton Airport, Monarch flies to island and coastal destinations almost exclusively, including Larnaca on the island of Cyprus, Faro in Portugal, and Bodrum in Turkey. However, only Alicante and Tenerife will benefit from October’s capacity boost, emphasising the popularity of the two ‘sun and sea’ destinations.
The airline, which is 42 years old this year, has also added a new route from Gatwick Airport to Calabria in Italy, beginning in summer 2011.
