The company took control of the group, which also includes Cosmos Holidays and Avro, from Monarch’s previous owner, the Mantegazza family, just hours before its Atol was due to expire on Friday October 24.

Chief executive Andrew Swaffield told TTG the deal meant Monarch was now a “financially stronger business with a sustainable business model”.

Swaffield added that the sale had saved 2,700 jobs although there would still be 700 redundancies – around 550 employees have now left the business with the final 150 due to leave by April 2015.

Under the deal, which sees Greybull taking a 90% stake in the company, Monarch has secured £125 million in finance including liquidity facilities and a “capital commitment” of £50 million provided by the Mantegazza family and Greybull.

Swaffield insisted the group had “always been open for business with the travel trade” and that agents and holidaymakers “should not see any difference” in its services.

“We really appreciate the support we have received from agents – it’s very important to have multiple distribution channels,” he added. “Consumers will choose where they buy and we want to be available in all of these channels.”

‘Leisure heartland’

Swaffield also stressed the importance to the group of the tour operating business Cosmos, which includes Pullman Holidays, Distant Dreams and Monarch Holidays.

“We are a multiple-brand company and tour operating is a very important distribution arm for the airline, and very important in its own right,” he said.

“We will be focused on the leisure heartland. We have no intention to compete on high-frequency business routes”

“There’s great synergy behind the airline having its own tour operators. Around a quarter of Monarch seats are sold through our operators and this is likely to stay about the same.”

Swaffield said Monarch was “definitely going to stay with leisure” and would not be tempted to compete with the likes of easyJet and Ryanair for business travellers.

“We will be very focused on the leisure heartland,” he added. “We have no intention to compete on high-frequency business routes.

“We are not going to compete with the low-cost carriers – although the reality is that we have lowered our costs. We are a scheduled leisure airline and we’re focused on our customer service and building on our good reputation.”

A return to profit?

Swaffield added that he expected Monarch to return to profit in its 2014/5 financial year, which runs from November 2014 to October 2015.

“We will be returning to profit next year and the business will be much more sustainable. We will stay focused on ensuring that we have exploited what we do as efficiently as possible before we grow.

“Growth is a very important part of the business plan and we will grow at some point. But I would not like to be pinned down on when that will be.”

He added that Monarch was now on a three-year “journey” leading up to April 2018 when the first of its 30 737 MAX 8 aircraft will be delivered. Swaffield said he hoped the company would be debt-free and have “built up its credit worthiness” by this time.

Under the terms of the sale, the final 10% of Monarch Group will held by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) as part of a deal with the Pensions Regulator.

This agreement has also seen the Mantegazza family pump in “tens of millions of pounds” to help plug the £158 million hole in Monarch’s pension fund. TTG believes this one-off payment to be around £30 million.

Swaffield said the sale to Greybull could not have happened without reaching this deal with the Pensions Regulator.

“Nobody would have bought the company with that kind of pension deficit on the balance sheet,” he added.