Inyokern, California, is reformed in 1983 and renamed after new owners purchase its certificate. Employing Cessna 402s and a Cessna 414, it undertakes an Essential Air Service (EAS) contract linking its base with Palmdale and Lancaster.
Unable to turn a profit, the third-level operator declares bankruptcy in early 1984. It is subsequently reformed as Indian Wells Airlines.
MOLDAVIAN AIRLINES: Kishinev Airport, Kishinev, 277026, Moldavia; Phone 373 (2) 529 365; Fax 373 (2) 525 064; Http://www. mdv. md; Code 2M; Year Founded 1994. The flag carrier of the Republic of Moldova is established at the capital city of Chisinau on July 26, 1994. It is also the first private airline in the country. Founder Nikolai Petrov is president/CEO and he recruits a workforce of 80. Two each former Aeroflot Soviet Airlines Yakovlev Yak-40s and Yak-42Ds are acquired and revenue twice-daily return flights commence on August 19 between the capital and Moscow.
Services continue apace during the remainder of the decade; scheduled destinations visited include Antalya, Berlin, Budapest, Milan, Moscow, Prague, and Rostov-on-Don. The subsidiary regional carrier Carpatair is established in March 1999 and is outfitted with one of the former Soviet Yak-40s. At the same time, the carrier enters into a marketing and code-sharing agreement with the new Bucharest-based regional carrier Veg Air, S. A., which launches scheduled flights on March 15 to Budapest, Timisoara, and Venice.
In November, the company becomes a joint Swiss-Moldovan company and shareholding is now divided between SAGroup, MALEV Hungarian Airlines, Rt., Tarom Romanian Airlines, S. A., Moldova Agroindbank, and the energy and financial groups LUKOIL and ASCOM.
Airline employment totals 155 at the beginning of 2000 and the fleet now comprises 2 Yak-42Ds, 1 Tupolev Tu-134A, and 1 SAAB 340B turboprop.
SAAB 340B frequencies between Chisinau and Budapest become twice daily at the end of March. At the same time, a new Frequent Flyer 2000 loyalty program is introduced.
The Moscow terminus is switched to Domodedovo Airport on October 1. A month later, the company begins to offer its Moscow passengers free transport from the airport to the Domodedovskaya and Kashirskaya underground stations. Jetway service onto the Tu-134A is introduced at Domodedovo on November 3.
MOLOKAI AVIATION: United States (1969-1972). This Hawaiian carrier is established by Timmy Cooke in late spring 1969 to offer scheduled passenger and cargo flight-seeing services. Employing a
Piper PA-23 Aztec, Cooke inaugurates flights on June 12 and continues them until he goes out of business in 1971.
MOLONEY AVIATION (PTY.), LTD.: Terminal Building, Es-sendon Airport, Melbourne, Victoria, 3041, Australia; Phone 61 (3) 9379 2122; Fax 61 (3) 9374 2086; Http://www. anzacc. com/ moloney. htm; Year Founded 1972. Maurice G. Moloney establishes this nonscheduled airline at Essendon Airport in 1972 to serve the Australian tourism and air charter industry. Flight-seeing and air tours commence around the local countryside. In 1975, Moloney becomes the first all-weather air safari operator in the nation.
Service continues apace during the remainder of the decade and into the 1980s. The company’s most famous service is introduced in 1983, the Penguin Express air package tour to Philip Island. At that point, customers may witness an attraction called the “Fairy Penguin Parade.”
Time Saver Tours are launched in 1987, including 50-min. flights to Victoria’s magnificent Great Ocean Road. Landing at Peterborough, at the mouth of the Curdies River, passengers on this package are taken to see such wonders as the Coast National Park and a rock formation known as the “Twelve Apostles.”
During the next decade, Moloney also begins to offer tours to the west of Melbourne, including air-ground trips into the Grampians National Park via the town of Stawell. Additionally, customized tours are made available, as well as flight training in a Cessna 172 and outings covering a combination of sites.
By 2000, Managing Director Moloney oversees a workforce of 8 and operates a fleet comprising 2 each Piper PA 34 Senecas and de Havil-land DH 104 Dove 1s and 1 each Aero Commander 500S, Cessna 310, and Cessna 172.
MONARCH AIR LINES: United States (1946-1950). Organized in early 1946, Monarch is the third of America’s new postwar local service carriers. Certified on March 28, it begins Douglas DC-3 services on November 27. Eventually, Monarch will fly routes linking Albuquerque-Salt Lake City-Denver, with intermediate stops.
In December 1949, it acquires Challenger Airlines and in April 1950 merges with rival Arizona Airways. The enlarged company is renamed Frontier Airlines (1) on June 1.
MONARCH AIR SERVICE: United States (1950-1951). Miami-based MAS is formed during the summer of 1950 to perform all-cargo contract charters throughout the eastern U. S. and into the Caribbean. Revenue operations commence with a single Curtiss C-46D Commando in November.
The C-46D with 3 crew and 45 passengers must abort its takeoff from Chicago (MDW) for Newark on January 4, 1951; although the aircraft is damaged beyond repair, there are no fatalities.
After the Curtiss crash, the company is unable to resume flying.
MONARCH AIRLINES: United States (1986-1987). This small niche regional is established in early 1986 at Grand Junction, Colorado, to provide scheduled services to the ski resort communities of Aspen and Gunnison. Operations commence in the fall with a single de Havil-land Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter.
Unable to achieve economic viability, the company ceases operations in March 1987.
MONARCH AIRLINES, LTD.: London Luton Airport, Luton, Bedfordshire, England, LU2 9NU, United Kingdom; Phone 44 (1582) 400 000; Fax 44 (1582) 411 000; Http://www. monarch-airlines. com; Code ZB; Year Founded 1967. William H. “Bill” Hodgson and Donald Peacock, directors of British Eagle Airways, Ltd., establish Airline Engineering, Ltd. in January 1967 to provide aircraft maintenance for Britain’s independent airlines.
Shortly thereafter, the gentlemen are approached by Cosmos Tours, which requires additional seating capacity for the 1968 summer season.
As a result of negotiations between the engineering concern and the package tour operator, Monarch Airlines is set up on June 1 to provide charter and inclusive-tour flights into southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Peacock is chairman, with Hodgson as managing director. The engineering firm is renamed Monarch Aircraft Engineering, Ltd. and remains in business.
With ideal connections from road and rail transport, London’s Luton Airport is chosen as the new airline’s base of operations. Orders are placed for new aircraft and a terminal is established at Tottenham Court Road, London.
On March 15, 1968, one of the two Bristol Britannia 312s purchased from Caledonian Airways, Ltd. is painted in a yellow and black livery with a distinctive crown logo and undertakes a proving flight to Rome and back. The inaugural tour flight, London (CTN) to Madrid, is made on April 5. Two more Britannias are added in September in December.
Enplanements by year’s end total 119,000.
Two additional Britannia 312s join the fleet in 1969 as holiday service is offered to vacation points in Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia.
Bookings reach 263,368.
Airline employment is 450 in 1970. The fleet now consists of 7 Britannia 312s. Destinations continue to be primarily in the Mediterranean. Under contract to Clarksons Holidays, new vacation services are offered from Manchester to Rotterdam and Paris. During the year, several different types of jetliners are evaluated as Monarch looks forward to jet services.
Freight traffic rises 13% while passenger boardings accelerate 11% to 295,918.
Monarch’s Britannia fleet expands the carrier’s route network significantly in 1971. Trooping flights are started, under contract to the Ministry of Defence, for soldiers needing lift to Australia. Between May and July, Hadj pilgrim flights are undertaken on behalf of Ghana Airways Corporation from West Africa to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Having completed an arrangement to purchase several surplus aircraft from Northwest Airlines, the carrier receives its first jetliner, a Boeing 720-51B, from the American carrier on September 15 and on December 13 it enters an inclusive-tour charter service from London (CTN) to Tunis.
Enplanements this year total 428,490.
Two more B-720-51Bs are acquired from Northwest Airlines in February and April 1972, respectively. Four Britannia 312s are withdrawn in May.
The work force now totals 297. Freight traffic climbs 16% and passenger bookings jump 19% to 529,000.
During 1973, several replacement services are flown on behalf of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and a Britannia 307 is purchased in October.
A fourth B-720-051B is leased from Maersk Air, A. S. in March 1974; on June 14 it is employed to launch five months of transatlantic charters from Birmingham to Vancouver by way of Toronto. Meanwhile, in May, the Britannia 307 purchased in 1973 is sold along with a Britannia 312.
In August, several B720-015B replacement flights are made to the Middle East on behalf of Iraqi Airways. When Clarksons Holidays fails during the same month, Monarch now places orders for BAC 1-11-500s to win that company’s customers. The last Britannia 312 passenger service is flown on December 18; thereafter the aircraft is withdrawn.
Three BAC 1-11-518s are received in February, March, and December 1975. The first begins inclusive-tour flights on March 19, Teesside-Munich. Bristol service accommodating Clarkson passengers also commences in March along with flights from Birmingham started in April.
The next-to-last Britannia still in the fleet is donated to the Duxford Aviation Society for a museum, part of the Imperial War Museum network.
The B-720-051Bs also enjoy a full schedule during the year. In November, a B-720B is leased from British Caledonian Airways, Ltd. (BCAL) to replace the Maersk Air, A. S. unit now returned. At the same time, the BAC 1-11-509 Isle of Eriskay is also chartered from BCAL.
The last Britannia 308F remains in service until the end of the year, but is sold to African Safari Airways, Ltd. in January 1976. One of the BAC 1-11-518s is chartered to Cyprus Airways, Ltd. The year’s tourist season is not unlike those of previous summers; into 1977, service for groups is expanded to additional destinations in southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Orders are placed for Boeing 707-320Cs and the Isle of Eriskay is purchased outright.
In 1978, the Boeing 707-320Cs are placed in service and orders are placed for two B-737-200s.
Dan-Air/Dan-Air Services, Ltd. Managing Director Alan Snudden becomes managing director in 1979 as William Hodgson and Donald Peacock step down. Monarch is the third airline, behind Eastern Air Lines and British Airways, Ltd. (2), to place orders for the B-757-200, requesting three with the E-4 version of the Rolls Royce RB211-535 engine. Original executives Hodgson and Peacock retire at year’s end.
Beginning on October 1, 1980, the B-737-2T7s join the fleet and by 1982 the jetliners have brought passenger boardings of 1,170,000. Also in 1982, James Rainbow becomes managing director of Monarch Aircraft Engineering, Ltd. The B-737-2T7s are based in West Berlin and undertake holiday flights to 17 Mediterranean destinations.
The first B-757-2T7 is delivered on March 26, 1983; Monarch is the first charter airline in the world to buy the new twinjet. The company is now flying to 75 destinations from the U. K. to points in Europe, the Mideast, North Africa, and the Caribbean.
Passenger enplanements total 1.6 million.
The last two B-757-2T7s enter service in 1984 and the earlier aircraft are put up for sale. In 1985, Monarch expands its charter and inclusive-tour business to include flights from most of the larger British airports, except London (LHR). The BAC 1-11s are sold to British Island Airways, Ltd. and a new $3-million maintenance hangar is opened at the London (CTN) base.
During 1986, the fleet comprises six B-737-2T7s and four B-757-2T7s and beginning on July 5, scheduled B-737-2T7 return service is started from London (CTN) to Mahon. Monarch is the sole British carrier on the route and the inaugural marks the first scheduled jet service out of Luton Airport.
A total of 3.67-million revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) are flown, a 20.1% increase.
The fleet in 1987 includes 8 B-757-2T7/2T7ERs, 4 B-737-33As, and 2 B-737-2T7s. Five-times-per-week roundtrip B-757-200ER long-haul flights begin to the U. S. on April 30 between London (CTN) and Orlando.
Enplanements for the 1,200-employee carrier total 2,468,000.
Following the outbreak of the Australian domestic airline pilots’ strike on August 24, 1988, two B-757-200s, complete with crews, are wet-leased by Australian Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. for a six-month period.
Passenger boardings for the 1,400-employee British charter operator fall by 8.8% to 2,250,800.
Company employment is decreased by 3.3% in 1989 to 1,074 and the fleet now includes 2 A300B4-203s, plus 2 on order, 6 B-737-3Y0s, including 5 leased to Euroberlin France, S. A., 4 B-737-33As all leased to Euroberlin France, S. A., 5 B-757-2T7s, including 2 leased to Condor Flugdienst, GmbH., 3 B-757-2T7Ers, and 1 leased Dash-28AER.
Orders are placed for three B-737-3T7ERs. Chairman/Managing Director Snudden is created a CBE by Queen Elizabeth in the year’s Birthday Honours.
The route network is significantly expanded; new destinations include Acapulco, Bangkok, Mombassa, Nassau, Orlando, Penang, and Rio de Janeiro. During the fall, a new ?6-million state-of-the-art B-757 flight simulator is opened at London (LTN). The technology will train not only Monarch pilots, but also flyers from many other companies under contract.
Customer bookings recover and increase by 10% to 2,482,600.
The fleet in 1990 includes 6 leased B-737-3Y0s, 4 chartered B-737-33As, 5 leased B-757-2T7s, 3 B-757-2T7ERs, and 1 B-757-28AER. The first of four ordered A300B4-605Rs arrives in March and is placed into service the following month over routes to the Mediterranean.
Simultaneously, a new ?6-million B-757 simulator is opened at a new ?1-million facility at Luton Airport. The building also contains offices, classrooms, and a ?600,000 cabin training simulator.
Chairman/Managing Director Snudden dies suddenly in May at age 59. He is succeeded by Donald D. McAngus.
A second large Airbus will be received later in the year. Enplanements reach 2,272,663.
In 1991 , two A300B4-605Rs are acquired. Daniel L. Bernstein is appointed joint managing director in January.
Passenger boardings descend 12.7% to 2,016,560. Freight, on the other hand, skyrockets 233.8% to 2.87 million FTKs.
Airline employment stands at 1,234 in 1992 and the fleet now includes 5 each A320-212s and B-757-2T7s, 3 each B-737-33As and B-757-2T7ERs, 4 A300-605Rs, and 1 chartered B-757-28AER.
Customer bookings skyrocket 41.3% to 3,187,280 and cargo climbs another 22.5% to 5.21 million FTKs.
In 1993, Managing Directors Bernstein and McAngus oversee a workforce of 2,000, up 62.1% over the previous year. Charter flights continue to be flown from London (CTN) to the Caribbean, Europe, East Africa, Egypt, Asia, and Florida while scheduled services are provided from the same city to Alicante, Malaga, Minorca, and Tenerife.
During the summer, substantial bookings are acquired from Airtours International. The twenty-fifth anniversary is celebrated throughout the year.
Passenger boardings accelerate 18.5% to 4.1 million.
The fleet in 1994 is expanded by the addition of two more A320-212s and a fourth B-757-2T7ER. Scheduled service is initiated to Palma in May. A contract is signed with an unnamed U. S. tour operator to fly charters from America to Africa and the Seychelles.
Customer bookings swell 17.1% to 4,803,000.
The workforce stands at 2,000 in 1995. One each B-737-3Y0QC and B-737-33AQC are leased to Aeropostale, S. A. (2). To provide additional lift during the summer holiday season, a Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar is wet-leased from Air Atlanta Icelandic, H. F. Following the demise of Zambia Airways Corporation during the summer, that carrier’s DC-10-30, Nkwazi, is purchased, repainted, and placed into service.
For the fall vacation schedule, a B-757-2T7ER is painted in a special blue and white livery and is given titles denoting a company contract with Renaissance Cruises. The aircraft is employed to fly travelers from Newark (EWR) to London (LGW) and then on to holiday destinations at or near Athens, Nairobi, and the Seychelles Islands. Meanwhile, another B-757-2T7ER is chartered to the Argentine nonscheduled operator
Dinar Lineas Aereas, S. A.
Despite this activity, enplanements this year dip a slight 0.1% to 4,800,300.
Two hundred new workers are hired in 1996, a 10% increase. Two A320-212s are subleased to the Canadian charter operator Skyservice, Ltd., a B-737-3Y0QC remains subleased to Aeropostale, S. A. (2), and a B-757-2T7 is subleased to Air Holland Charter, B. V.
The Icelandic TriStar is leased for the summer season once more and the last B-737-2T7 is sold during the year. Monarch Aircraft Engineering adds a new hangar at Manchester, supplementing facilities at Luton Airport.
The company’s 21 aircraft transport a total of 4,889,400 passengers, a growth rate of 2.1%.
The workforce is slashed by 30.9% in 1997 to 1,521. The fleet now includes 4 A300B4-605Rs and 3 B-757-2T7ERs. Also operated under charter are 7 A320-212s, 4 B-757-2T7s, and 1 each B-737-3Y0, B-737-3Y0QC, DC-10-30 and, during the summer, L-1011-1. The previous year’s subleases are continued and a scheduled route to Gibraltar opens in May.
Scheduled destinations visited from London (CTN and LGW) include Alicante, Gibraltar, Malaga, Menorca, Tenerife, and Palma. Charters continue to be flown to points in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, Africa, the U. S., India, and Europe.
During July, orders are placed for two A330-200s and two A321-231s, with the start of deliveries promised for March 1999.
Customer bookings inch up 0.5% to 4,924,000 as freight traffic plunges 77.1% to 21.52 million FTKs.
On May 21, 1998, an MD-11 is wet-leased from World Airways. Painted in Monarch colors, the aircraft will fly five weekly roundtrips between London (CTN) and Orlando and weekly between Manchester and Las Vegas until November 1. During the year, airline employment is boosted 17.1% to 1,781.
Passenger boardings dip a slight 0.8% to 4.88 million.
During the first week of January 1999, Monarch receives the first of five AERIS FX units from the airline entertainment systems concern Transdigital Communications. Just as scheduled, the first A330-243 arrives on March 26. Monarch is the first U. K. airline to employ the long-range Airbus in revenue service. The premier A321-231 follows on March 31.
New Monarch Premium Cabin service is introduced aboard the A330 when it enters service at the beginning of April.
During the year, the company’s flight simulator business is sold to Flight Safety-Boeing, which continues to provide electronic training at the Luton Airport location.
Passenger boardings this year rise 5.3% to 4,817,000, while cargo traffic falls 38.2% to 6.29 million FTKs.
Airline employment at the beginning of 2000 stands at 2,400, a 34.8% increase over the previous 12 months.
A B-757-2T7 is wet-leased to Dinar Lineas Aereas, S. A. on January 4. The Boeing, in Monarch colors with Dinar titles, will operate on behalf of the Argentine carrier through the end of March. The contract, upon expiration, is extended.
Upon completion of the Hadj, an L-1011 is wet-leased from Air Atlanta Icelandic, H. F. on April 12 for six months. A leased A320-231 is delivered on April 19.
At the beginning of June, the AEEU, Britain’s largest engineering trade union, signs an agreement with Monarch covering its 1,200 cabin crew. Jonathan Crick is elevated to the newly created position of commercial director on June 19, gaining a seat on the board of directors.
On July 28, orders are placed for five additional A321-231s for delivery during the second half of 2002.
An A320-212 is subchartered to Skyservice Airlines, Ltd. in October for the Canadian line’s winter holiday schedule. It is delivered in Monarch colors with Skyservice titles.
The July A320 order is confirmed on November 23.
MONARCH AIRLINES (AUSTRALIA) (PTY.), LTD.: Australia (1991-1994). MAL is established at Sydney in early 1991 to operate scheduled third-level passenger and cargo flights with 1 Cessna 441 and 3 Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftains. Late in the year, another commuter, Southern Airlines (Pty.), Ltd., is purchased. Operations have been concluded by 1994.
MONGOFLOT. See MIAT-AIR MONGOL
MONGOLIAN CIVIL AIR TRANSPORT. See MIAT-AIR MONGOL
MONGOLYN IRGENIY AGARYN TEEVER. See MIAT-AIR MONGOL
MONMOUTH AIRWAYS: United States (1968-1979). The Castanea Corporation sells its third-level carrier, Piper Twinair, to Charles Robertson in 1968. The company is reformed and renamed in honor of its Monmouth County (New Jersey) Airport base. Employing a fleet of Beech 99s and Piper PA-31-310 Navajos, Robertson’s commuter maintains daily roundtrips to New York (JFK), although a feeder arrangement with Trans World Airlines (TWA) will soon end.
Operations continue apace during the remainder of the decade and into the 1970s and during these years services are extended to Wilkes-
Barre, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D. C. (DCA). On October 24, 1971, a Beech 99 with two crew and six passengers is involved in an accident at Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport in Pennsylvania (four dead).
Taking a leaf from the operations book of John Van Arsdale’s Provincetown-Boston Airline (PBA), President Robertson, in 1973, establishes a Florida division, doing business as Vero Monmouth Airlines, at Vero Beach on the Atlantic coast. Employing aircraft transferred from New Jersey, VMA undertakes to link its base with Tampa, Miami, Melbourne, and Orlando. This Dixie gambit is not successful and Vero Monmouth Airlines is closed down in late 1975.
Only northern operations are conducted between 1976 and 1979. During the latter year, the company is purchased and reformed into Ocean Airways.
MONTAIR AVIATION, INC.: 7673 Garfield Drive, Delta, British Columbia, V4C 4E6, Canada; Phone (604) 946-6688; Fax (604) 9466508; Year Founded 1992; Http://www. montair. com. Montair is set up at Boundary Bay Airport at Delta, south of Vancouver, in 1992 to provide scheduled and charter services and flight training.
The company owns its own passenger terminal and training facility. Charters are offered for companies and individuals, while scenic air tours for tourists become a specialty. Daily scheduled service is provided linking the company’s base with Pitt Meadows Airport and Vancouver International Airport.
The fleet in 1997-2000 includes 2 Cessna 172s, 2 Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftains, and 2 PA-34 Senecas.
Scheduled daily commuter service is introduced to the central British Columbia communities of Fairmont, Creston, 108 Mile House, Grand Forks, and Invermere.
MONTANA AUSTRIA (MONTANA FLUGBETRIEB, GmbH.): Austria (1975-1981). Capt. Jorg Stockl forms MA in late 1975 to offer the first intercontinental passenger charter and inclusive-tour flights operated by a private Austrian airline from Vienna in many years. Government bureaucracy and opposition from Austrian Airlines, A. G. results in a start-up delay of nearly a year.
Employing a pair of Boeing 707-138Bs previously operated by Qan-tas Airways, Ltd., Montana Austria launches revenue services in November 1976 by executing the first return charter service between the nation’s capital and Bangkok, Thailand.
During the next four years, a third Stratoliner is acquired and charters are undertaken on behalf of various clients, often to out-of-the-way destinations seldom visited by other scheduled or nonscheduled operators. Subcharters and replacement flights are often operated on behalf of better-known carriers. Price wars and recession lead company executives to accept a number of contracts of a dubious nature. In May 1981, one of these starts a string of events that will cause the airline’s failure.
In May, U. S. government officials catch a Montana Austria B-707 loaded with illegal weapons at Houston. The plane is impounded and the company is heavily fined. Before the airline’s leadership can get together the financing necessary to retrieve their aircraft, Austrian aviation officials in Vienna begin the process of withdrawing Montana’s operating certificate. In late June, the German lessors of the carrier’s Boeings call in all overdue payments and court bailiffs attach Montana’s business accounts early in July. Out of resources and fighting legal battles against both government and financial opponents, Montana stops flying in mid-July. Over 2,000 customers are stranded at New York and in several European cities.
MONTANA DEVELOPMENT AND AIR TRANSPORT COMPANY: United States (1930). Established at Missoula in the summer of 1930, MD & ATC is equipped with a single Lockheed Model 5 Vega, which is employed to inaugurate scheduled passenger service to Kalispell in July. Without a mail contract, the little carrier is unable to generate sufficient revenue traffic to operate beyond November.
World History
