Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have engaged with the directors of Petrol Jersey to establish whether that company will reimburse or contribute towards the cost of repatriating customers of Monarch Airlines to the UK.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The principal shareholder in Monarch Airlines is Petrol Jersey Limited with the Pension Protection Fund also holding a 10% 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[1] 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.
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. We will be able to report in due course exactly how much the taxpayer has contributed and further detail on the recipients, where this information is not subject to a confidentiality clause.
We are focused on making sure that there is clear burden sharing of the repatriation operation, and that it is not only the government who pays.
We have entered into discussions with several third parties with the aim of recovering the costs of the repatriation operation. This includes Greybull Capital and relevant card providers and travel providers through which passengers may have booked flights. We will in due course be able to report back with more detail.
[1] http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/transport/Response-from-Greybull-Capital-LLP-to-Chair-re-Monarch-Airlines-collapse-24-10-2017.pdf
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in the matter of making claims for a contribution towards the cost of repatriating to the UK passengers of Monarch Airlines, they have (1) established the identity of the owners of Monarch Airlines, and (2) obtained confirmation of their willingness to contribute; and whether those owners include (a) Greybull Capital, and (b) Petrol Jersey.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The principal shareholder in Monarch Airlines is Petrol Jersey Limited with the Pension Protection Fund also holding a 10% 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[1] 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.
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. We will be able to report in due course exactly how much the taxpayer has contributed and further detail on the recipients, where this information is not subject to a confidentiality clause.
We are focused on making sure that there is clear burden sharing of the repatriation operation, and that it is not only the government who pays.
We have entered into discussions with several third parties with the aim of recovering the costs of the repatriation operation. This includes Greybull Capital and relevant card providers and travel providers through which passengers may have booked flights. We will in due course be able to report back with more detail.
[1] http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/transport/Response-from-Greybull-Capital-LLP-to-Chair-re-Monarch-Airlines-collapse-24-10-2017.pdf
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they asked Greybull Capital, or any other secured creditor of Monarch Airlines, to subordinate their security to grant precedence to HM Government in respect of costs incurred by the taxpayer in repatriating customers of Monarch Airlines.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
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[1] 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.
We have entered into discussions with several third parties, including relevant card providers and travel providers through which passengers may have booked flights, with the aim of recovering the costs of the repatriation operation and will in due course be able to report back with more detail.
We are focused on making sure that there is clear burden sharing of the repatriation operation, and that it is not only the government who pays.
[1] http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/transport/Response-from-Greybull-Capital-LLP-to-Chair-re-Monarch-Airlines-collapse-24-10-2017.pdf
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 2 November (HL2460), whether they intend to seek binding agreements with Greybull Capital and its associates to contribute towards the cost of repatriating passengers booked on Monarch Airlines; and if so, whether those agreements will be published, and what they intend to offer in return for those contributions.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We have not discussed binding agreements with Greybull Capital and there is no formal legal mechanism we can use to oblige Greybull to contribute towards the costs of repatriating passengers.
However, Marc Meyohas, partner at Greybull has written[1] 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.
We also have entered into discussions with several third parties, including relevant card providers and travel providers through which passengers may have booked flights, with the aim of recovering the costs of the repatriation operation and will in due course be able to report back with more detail.
We are focused on making sure that there is clear burden sharing of the repatriation operation, and that it is not only the government who pays.
[1] http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/transport/Response-from-Greybull-Capital-LLP-to-Chair-re-Monarch-Airlines-collapse-24-10-2017.pdf
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have sought a contribution from Vantage Guernsey, an associate of Greybull Capital, towards the cost to the taxpayer of repatriating to the UK passengers of Monarch Airlines.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
There is no formal legal mechanism we can use to oblige Greybull to contribute to the costs of repatriating passengers. However, Marc Meyohas, partner at Greybull has written to the Transport Select Committee acknowledging 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.
We have entered into discussions with several third parties, including relevant card providers and travel providers through which passengers may have booked flights, with the aim of recovering the costs of the repatriation operation and will in due course be able to report back with more detail.
We are focused on making sure that there is clear burden sharing of the repatriation operation, and that it is not only the government who pays.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the details of the agreement they reached with the Civil Aviation Authority, the Air Travel Organisers Licence (ATOL), and Greybull Capital to cover the cost of repatriating the stranded UK passengers of Monarch Airlines; whether they have made any commitment to put in place similar arrangements in the event that another UK airline collapses; and whether ATOL members would be expected to cover some, or all, of the cost of repatriating passengers not covered by ATOL.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We have entered into discussions with several third parties, including relevant card providers and travel providers through which passengers may have booked flights, with the aim of recovering the costs of the repatriation operation and will in due course be able to report back with more detail.
No further commitments have been made, but it is appropriate that we and the CAA should have robust contingency plans in place for a wide range of scenarios that can be put into practice quickly.
We are asking ATOL members who had their own (ATOL protected) customers on Monarch flights to contribute to the cost of the repatriation programme in respect of the passengers that they had a responsibility for.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether ministers or officials have met with, or made representations to, Airline Coordination Limited in connection with (1) Monarch Airlines, and (2) Greybull Capital.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Ministers have had no discussions with Airport Co-ordination Limited, the UK’s independent slot co-ordinator, in connection with Monarch Airlines or Greybull Capital. Under European and UK regulations, the UK government has no role in the airport slot allocation process. Airport Co-ordination Ltd has kept Department for Transport officials updated on factual matters relating to the disposition of Monarch Airlines’ slots at UK airports.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they asked Greybull Capital to make any contribution towards the cost of repatriating to the UK passengers of Monarch Airlines, or sought to establish a claim on any asset surplus remaining in Monarch.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Our initial aim was to repatriate passengers back to the UK safely. Now that this has been achieved, we are focused on making sure that there is clear burden sharing, and that it is not only the government who pays.
There is no formal legal mechanism we can use to oblige Greybull to contribute towards the cost of repatriating passengers. However, we have entered into discussions with several third parties with the aim of recovering the costs of the repatriation operation and will in due course be able to report back with more detail.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) whether they are able to oblige Greybull to contribute towards the cost of repatriating passengers stranded outside the UK due to the failure of Monarch Airlines; (2) whether Greybull ranks as a senior creditor of Monarch in receivership; and (3) how many Monarch passengers were stranded in the UK and not repatriated with government assistance.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
There is no formal legal mechanism we can use to oblige Greybull to contribute towards the cost of repatriating passengers. Whether Greybull ranks as a senior creditor of Monarch in receivership is a question for the administrators. The role for Government was to get passengers back to the UK who would otherwise have been stranded due to insufficient alternative capacity in the aviation market at the time of Monarch’s collapse.
The CAA made an assessment that there was sufficient capacity in the market for passengers who were in the UK at the time of the collapse to make an alternative flight booking if they wished to do so.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they received any request to lend money to, or invest in, Monarch Airlines, Greybull or any affiliated entity ahead of the collapse of Monarch Airlines.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Monarch started informal discussions with the government immediately prior to its collapse, about a number of potential investments, but did not formally make any request to government before going into administration.