Homeworking company Travel Counsellors set up a crisis team of 40 staff at its Manchester headquarters on Sunday as speculation mounted about Monarch’s future.

When the official announcement of Monarch’s demise came at around 4am today (October 2), these staff then worked through the rest of the night to alert its homeworker agents who had clients with Monarch bookings.

Kirsten Hughes, Travel Counsellors’ UK managing director, said: “We became concerned of a potential failure on Sunday and a crisis team at head office guaranteed we were prepared to support our Travel Counsellors and customers if and when the news hit.

“Our 24/7 duty office immediately ran reports to identify affected bookings and we have been in constant contact with our Travel Counsellors to support them.”

Gary Lewis, chief executive of The Travel Network Group, added: “We have tried and tested procedures for handling these situations and have been putting these in place over the weekend to make sure our members have access to all the support and advice they need.”

Independent operators rushed to reassure customers who had booked packages featuring Monarch Airlines flights that they were “fully protected” financially.

Sunvil’s managing director Chris Wright said in a message to customers: “We are currently making arrangements with alternative carriers so that your holiday can continue as planned. These arrangements are made on your behalf without any additional charge, one of the many benefits of booking a package.

“We shall be dealing with flights on a departure-by-departure basis and we are currently working on arrangements for flights departing within the next seven days.”

Aito said that “quite a few” of its members worked with Monarch and they have been contacting customers to let them know of their new flight details.

Derek Moore, Aito’s chairman, added: “Those who booked scheduled flights independently, thinking they were saving money, may now be rueing their decision to do so – particularly those whose flights were booked for the coming winter months.”

Abta said that it was providing members with “the most up to date guidance and information” about the Monarch’s failure.

“The vast majority of holidaymakers’ arrangements will be covered through different types of financial protection including credit and some debit card schemes, and they will either be entitled to a refund, or if they’ve booked through another travel company, they should contact them to discuss options which may include rebooking or alternative arrangements,” said Abta in a statement.