Administrator KPMG has regained control of Monarch slots after an appeal.
The UK High Court had previous ruled that KPMG could not retain the slots on the basis that Monarch wasn’t flying, and is unlikely to do so in the future however the court of appeal overturned the ruling and allowed KPMG to keep possession of the slots which are worth an estimated £60m.
KMPG Administrator Blair Nimmo said “We will now progress the slot exchange transactions we have underway, whose buyers will be announced at completion” adding “there will be no immediate distributions to any creditors”
Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) handles slots for 38 airports and believes the ruling has a significant impact on the parity of future slots. “The fact that a defunct airline is able to obtain and trade slots sets a worrying precedent for the future, and one which will give cause for concern to airlines and airport”.
As ACL have declared that they dont intend to appeal the ruling the company will now allocate the slots at Gatwick and Luton to the administrators. ACL said “Slots at Manchester and Birmingham, which ACL had already put into the pool and re-allocated to airlines after the Divisional Court’s ruling and before the appeal, are unaffected by this judgment”
They added “The wider implications of the judgment will need to be considered by those responsible for the laws and guidelines which underpin ACL’s jurisdiction—the International Air Transport Association, the European Commission and the [UK] Department for Transport, among others.”