The Monarch Group has announced the appointment of Andrew Swaffield as managing director of its scheduled airline, Monarch Airlines, with effect from April 1st 2014. 

Swaffield joins Monarch Airlines from Avios Group, where he was managing director for seven years from 2006.

Under his leadership, Avios launched the new global single currency for International Airlines Group, which owns Avios Group, and the new Avios brand in 2011.

He has over 25 years’ management experience in travel, aviation and airline loyalty gained with Thomas Cook and British Airways (since 1994) where he headed leisure sales in the UK and Ireland, as well as running its travel agency and tour operating subsidiaries. 

Executive responsibility for the airline will be passed to Andrew from Iain Rawlinson, executive chairman of Monarch Group, who assumed interim responsibility for the airline in November 2013 pending the appointment. 

Commenting on the appointment Rawlinson said: “I am delighted to welcome Andrew to Monarch Airlines, at an exciting time both for the Airline and for the Group.

“His deep understanding of the travel industry, where he is a recognised authority on customer loyalty and where he has a proven track record in leadership and the creation of stakeholder value, will help us build on the foundations laid by the successful turnaround of the Group’s performance over the last two years.”

Christmas Bookings

Monarch Airlines saw overall bookings rise 37 per cent year-on-year over the festive season, outperforming the market which was down by 5.5 per cent over the same period. 

The UK’s leading scheduled leisure airline, which offers flights from six UK bases, also saw bookings made via its mobile app jump by 315 per cent, 217 per cent, 338 per cent and 241 per cent on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day respectively.

Overall its mobile bookings during the festive holiday rose by over 200 per cent on the corresponding period last year.