Collapsed UK leisure carrier Monarch Airlines' maintenance operation, Monarch Aircraft Engineering, has emerged as a standalone company following the airline's cessation of activities.
The maintenance firm says Monarch Airlines has been a "significant customer" for the company, but that it will concentrate on securing new business from third parties.
Around 50% of its current activity is third-party work, the company states.
Its revenues for the last full financial year – which ran to 31 October 2016 – had already been down by 5% to £91 million, the result of reduced base maintenance work at its Manchester hangar, which was subsequently sold.
Pre-tax profit reached £1.6 million, although this was higher than the £1 million recorded in the previous year.
Sale of the hangar provided an exceptional benefit which lifted the full-year net profit to £9.2 million.
Managing director Chris Dare told FlightGlobal last year that in-house maintenance was still a central business for the company, and that he had not envisaged a spin-off of the maintenance arm.
Monarch Aircraft Engineering has 730 personnel and operates at 10 locations, including six in the UK. Despite its ties with the airline it had already been operating as a largely-separate arm.
Monarch Aircraft Engineering recently entered a joint venture with Boeing Global Services aimed at third-party fleet servicing.
The company has landed a contract for servicing 17 Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9s at Birmingham over the next four years.
It has also recently obtained approval to conduct line maintenance on Airbus A320neo jets.
"Despite what has happened at Monarch Airlines and Monarch Tour Group, [the maintenance arm] continues to trade as normal," says Dare.
Monarch Aircraft Engineering's capabilities include base maintenance at London Luton and Birmingham, covering the major aircraft manufacturers, and line maintenance at 10 locations – with four overseas sites at Nice, Malaga, Warsaw and Kiev.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
