The collapse of Monarch at the beginning of October left 110,000 passengers stranded and led to 750,000 flights being cancelled. The cost of repatriating customers was picked up by the UK government and is estimated to be £60 million.
The airline has since been bailed out by US company Boeing, which is understood to have pumped £100 million into it through a Jersey company.
The largest shareholder of Monarch is Petrol Jersey Limited, which is registered at 23 to 27 Seaton Place, St Helier, and is administered by the finance firm Praxis IFM.
Its ultimate owner, however, is private equity firm Greybull Capital, which performs an advisory and management role for Petrol Jersey Limited and is the principal secured creditor of Monarch.
A written question tabled in the House of Lords by unaffiliated peer Lord Myners asked whether it had been established who the owners of Monarch were and whether they would contribute to the cost of repatriating the passengers who had been stranded.
In response, Conservative peer Baroness Sugg said: ‘The principal shareholder in Monarch Airlines is Petrol Jersey Limited, with the Pension Protection Fund also holding a ten per cent stake.
‘Greybull Capital is not itself a shareholder in Monarch Airlines but performs an advisory and management role for Petrol Jersey Limited.
‘There is no formal legal mechanism we can use to oblige Greybull to contribute towards the cost of repatriating passengers. However, Marc Meyohas, partner at Greybull, has written to the Transport Select Committee acknowledging a moral obligation, if they make a profit, to contribute to other stakeholders including helping to defray the costs incurred by the government in repatriating Monarch customers.’
She added: ‘Our initial estimate was that the total costs of the repatriation operation will be around £60 million. We are currently unable to give a final figure, as we are awaiting final invoices and cost recovery from third parties.’
