Monarch's new Midlands' flights on sale from 18 May 2012

Leading scheduled leisure airline, Monarch, last week announced it is to introduce additional frequencies and a new route from Birmingham airport this summer, plus launch a new base and flights from East Midlands airport. These flights will be on sale from Friday 18 May 2012.

The routes, which have been announced in reaction to the news that bmibaby is to close, include new flights from East Midlands airport to Malaga, Alicante, Palma and Faro, plus additional frequencies from Birmingham airport to Malaga, Alicante, Faro, Rome and Palma. There will also be a new route between Birmingham and Barcelona. The flights from Birmingham will operate in addition to Monarch's existing network of services to Alicante, Almeria, Bodrum, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, GrenobleSkoda, Heraklion, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Larnaca, MadeiraSkoda, Majorca, Malaga, Menorca, Milan, MunichSkoda, Paphos, Rome, Sharm el SheikhSkoda, Tenerife and Venice.

Commenting on the new Midlands' services, Managing Director of Monarch Airlines, Kevin George said, "Monarch is delighted to be launching the new and additional services from both Birmingham and East Midlands airports, which will support travellers in the region left without flights to some of their favourite leisure destinations once bmibaby closes. The services, which account for 25% of bmibaby's existing routes from the Midlands, will commence this summer and provide customers with a quality alternative for all their holiday flights."

Monarch's new and additional flights from Birmingham and East Midlands airports will be available to book via monarch.co.uk from Friday 18 May, when full schedules and timetables will be published.