Air Berlin and Monarch: airport impact of failed European LCCs

There were three big airline failures in 2017 in Europe - Alitalia, Air Berlin and Monarch.

The latter two were similar airlines, with regional low cost operations in Germany and the UK where they often had quite large proportions of the capacity. Air Berlin had its two main hubs at Berlin Tegel and Düsseldorf airports, operating both short and long haul, and was also a big player at Vienna Airport.

Monarch had five bases in the UK. Birmingham had the greatest Monarch capacity ratio, at almost 14%. Other factors are in play, but it is clear that Birmingham has not replaced all the Monarch capacity and the airport chose not to do so because it perceived there was too much capacity in the market and that was one of the reasons for Monarch's demise.

On the first anniversary of their collapse (Oct-2017) this article examines what have been the effects on the respective regional airports caused by the failure of Air Berlin and Monarch.