Unite’s assistant general secretary, Diana Holland, told Parliament’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee today (22 October) that the way the airline’s failure was handled “ensured” 4,000 jobs were lost. 

Holland said recommendations presented in a review of the Monarch Airlines collapse, published this year, were not followed. 

“The section of the report describes how it’s possible to continue to arrange a wind-down of an airline,” Holland said. “Because airlines are very specific businesses that once they’re grounded the whole situation changes - that is, the collapse of the airline is impossible to be retrieved.

“Therefore there were very specific proposals around Monarch, how it could have been in operation in a way that it could have managed the repatriation, which would therefore not be a cost.”

Monarch collapsed in 2017, leaving 110,000 holiday-makers stranded overseas.

Holland highlighted both Condor in Germany and Ving in Norway and Sweden – both subsidiaries of Cook - are still flying.

FSB’s policy director Martin McTague, TSSA’s general secretary Manuel Cortes, and Which?’s head of external affairs Richard Piggin were also called to give evidence to the select committee.