UP to 200 jobs will be eventually be created by an airline that is taking over some routes at East Midlands Airport, its boss has said.
At the end of this month, Monarch Airlines will begin operating flights from the Castle Donington airport.
From August 31, it will fly to Malaga and Alicante, both in Spain, Faro, in Portugal, and Palma, on the island of Majorca. Monarch will be basing two aircraft at the airport, which will operate daily services until the end of October. During the winter months, this will reduce to one as it scales down the frequency of services. But next summer, daily services will begin again and the firm intends to add Ibiza to its list of flights.
Three of the routes were previously operated by lowcost operator BMI Baby, which is expected to fly its last route on September 9. The routes that Monarch has taken over from BMI Baby are Malaga, Faro and Alicante. BMI Baby is set to close as its parent company, International Airlines Group, has so far failed to find a buyer for the business.
Its closure will result in the loss of 374 jobs - but Monarch said it was recruiting some of these people.
Managing director Kevin George said: "As a result of our expansion into East Midlands Airport, we are creating between 150 and 200 jobs. "During the recruitment process, we have made BMI Baby staff aware of the positions."
Monarch, which has never flown from East Midlands Airport before, estimates that it will carry up to 81,000 passengers by the autumn. Mr George said: "We already had a good relationship with East Midlands Airport's parent company, Manchester Airports Group, because we already fly out of Manchester. "So, when the sad announcement was made about BMI Baby, we were able to move pretty quickly to fill the void. "Before then, we had never considered flying from East Midlands because BMI Baby was a dominant force there.
"But when the opportunity arose we grabbed it with both hands. "We hold East Midlands Airport in high regard. We always look to partner with airports which share the same values towards their customers as us - so East Midlands was a perfect fit."
Mr George said he hoped that BMI Baby customers would be impressed by his airline's approach.
He said: "Our core values are choice, value and customer service.
"We know how important these routes are to local people and we hope they will enjoy flying with us."
Monarch is one of a number of airlines looking to expand at East Midlands to fill the gap that BMI Baby will be leaving. At its height, BMI Baby operated 32 routes out of the airport.
But other airlines like Flybe and Jet2 are taking over some routes, introducing new ones and are looking to base more of their aircraft at East Midlands.
Brad Miller, the airport's managing director, said: "It is, of course, incredibly sad what has happened to BMI Baby.
"But having a greater choice of airlines at East Midlands Airport is great for the passengers and makes us stronger as all of our eggs will not be in one basket. "Monarch is definitely the type of operator we want here. It has a great reputation and I'm confident that it will prove popular.
"Losing BMI Baby was a blow for us but I believe the expansion plans of all these airlines at East Midlands will help the airport grow."
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