Monarch Airlines (1968) (London Luton) administrator KPMG has filed an appeal with the UK Court of Appeal against the earlier ruling which had strapped the bankrupt company of its landing slots at British airports.
Speaking to TTG, a KPMG spokesperson has confirmed the company hopes to have the case heard this week.
KPMG hopes that it will retrieve landing slots owned by Monarch at some of the most congested British airports, particularly London Gatwick. The leisure-specialist also owned landing rights at London Luton, Birmingham, GB, Manchester and Leeds/Bradford. If KPMG retrieves those slots for summer 2018, it will be in a position to sell them to other airlines, potentially earning millions of pounds which will then go to Monarch's creditors, including former owner Greybull Capital.
The UK High Court on November 8 rejected Monarch's claim that Airport Coordination Limited, the slot coordinator at most of the British airports, was under a duty to allocate Summer 2018 slots to Monarch "by reason of historical precedence ('grandfather rights')". The Justices said that in Monarch's case, such a step by ACL would distort the market. The judgement meant that slots will return to ACL which will then be free to reallocate them for free, with preference given to new airlines.
