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Comet, Riley's Sports Bars, and the former Morrison's-owned convenience store chain M all go under. From their plush Knightsbridge offices – less than a minute's walk from Harrods Greybull offered a hint of contrition over the swift implosion that finished Monarch as a company. In the wake of the closure, the firm's website carried nothing but one simple statement. “We are very sorry that we have not been able to turn around the Monarch group and for all the inconvenience and distress that this administration will cause,” the statement read. WORKED SO HARD “We would like to thank all the employees, partners and stakeholders who have worked so hard over the past three years to try and make the Monarch Group a success.” Monarch had been a success. It had a collection of awards and plaudits for efficiency, customer service and safety. The public reaction to its demise at times resembled an outpouring of grief. It was a well-loved airline. Honest and uncynical towards its customers, it's hard to imagine the loss of, say, Ryanair, being met with such sadness. The accounts show that there were times when Monarch had been making a profit, and looked like it had the potential to do so again. Even the Meyohas brothers must have believed this when they purchased 90 percent of the business in 2014, declaring: “We are delighted to acquire Monarch and invest our capital into a very strong brand
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Greybull's maneouvres behind the scenes with great potential.” Within 12 months, Greybull had The Financial Times singing its praises and stating that Monarch had been transformed under their leadership as 2015 saw the airline's first whiff of profit in more than three years. Behind the scenes, though, Greybull were looking to “explore strategic options” for Monarch which included expanding – potentially with a European partner – before selling up. IMMINENT BANKRUPTCY Nothing materialised, yet Greybull kept filling the financial holes that Monarch was creating up to the third quarter of 2016 as rumours of imminent bankruptcy were brushed aside. At some point, in Greybull's Mayfair offices, where the Meyohas brothers were encamped on Saturday, September 30, a conversation between them and Andrew Swaffield – the CEO at Monarch's Luton Airport headquarters – led to them decide that enough was enough. Monarch couldn't be saved and the plug was pulled, leaving 860,000
passengers without flights. Marc Meyohas was quick to blame the weakness of the pound, terrorism in the Middle East, and Brexit for the biggest business failure in British aviation history. It can't be denied there are several contributing factors. But there may be other lines of enquiry. For instance, only a year after Greybull threw £165m into Monarch just to keep it afloat in 2016, the troubled airline inexplicably ordered 15 aircraft from Boeing – in addition to the 30 it had already sanctioned. The extra 15 alone were valued at £1.3bn. Bullish business decisions like that will certainly require some answers. Blair Nimmo, administrator with KPMG, was appointed to lead the windingup process, and he says there appears to be little that can be done for the 2,100 Monarch staff – particularly the 1,858 who were made redundant just as soon as Andrew Swaffield clicked “send” on an email to staff at 3.26am on Monday, October 2. Nimmo, stating the company had run out of options by having its aircraft grounded, said the most pressing course of action was to “realise the assets in due course”. With its whole fleet of planes on lease, it's hard to see just what assets the company could have – particularly when Monarch Aircraft Engineering Ltd (Monarch's service and maintenance arm) announced it would continue as a standalone business, seemingly immune from the unfolding mess.