Administrators KPMG have confirmed that they will seek a second court ruling after the High Court rejected its claim that Monarch owned valuable slots at Gatwick. KPMG wants to sell these slots to pay the creditors of the failed airline. However, The High Court ruled last week that because the carrier was in administration, it no longer owned the slots.

Judges refused leave for KPMG to return to the High Court to appeal the decision, but did give leave for the matter to be heard in the Court of Appeal.

A KPMG spokesperson told TTG: “On Wednesday the judges published the full transcript of the ruling. As part of that, they confirmed that we are not able to appeal to the High Court. Therefore we have filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal.”

She added: “We hope it will be heard as soon as possible, maybe as early as next week.”

The issue centres mainly around Monarch’s slots at congested Gatwick, which are worth tens of millions. If KPMG is not able to sell them, they will return to the slot ‘pool’ and be reallocated free, with preference given to new airlines.