Monarch rescue flights 'to cost 60m'

[nitpicker]

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-41477267

Monarch rescue flights 'to cost £60m'

40 minutes ago

From the section Business

Flights returning 110,000 passengers from overseas after Monarch's collapse will cost about £60m, according to the UK airline regulator. More than 11,800 were flown home to the UK during Monday on 61 flights, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said. The government called it the biggest repatriation exercise in peacetime.

Monarch Airlines ceased trading early on Monday, leading to nearly 1,900 job losses and the cancellation of all its flights and holidays. The collapse of the 50-year-old company is the largest ever for a UK airline.

The government is set to pick up the tab for flying Monarch passengers home, but is talking to credit card companies about sharing some of the cost.

The repatriation comes as it also emerged:
◾About 56,000 Monarch passengers are due to be flown back this week
◾More than half are in mainland Spain or on Spanish islands, according to the CAA
◾BBC business editor Simon Jack said Monarch had been looking at potential tie-ups with several interested parties before its collapse
◾Those talks were partly derailed by uncertainty surrounding the future regulation of the UK aviation industry after the Brexit vote, he said
◾Monarch's administrators said the airline's pension holders should see no impact from the firm's collapse
(snip)