Monarch Airlines to create up to 200 jobs at Leeds Bradford Airport

Up to 200 new jobs could be created at Leeds-Bradford Airport after Monarch Airlines named it as its sixth UK base.

The move will also see the airline introduce 12 new routes from next year and make its service to Munich an all-year-round one.

The new list of services will include scheduled flights to Barcelona, Rome, Larnaca and Tenerife.

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Monarch Airlines also says that business travellers will benefit and that the Yorkshire economy will get a shot in the arm.

Kevin George, managing director of Monarch Airlines, said: “We see West Yorkshire as a very important market for us and it makes absolute sense that Leeds-Bradford Airport should become our sixth base in the UK.

“It will strengthen our operations in the north of England. We estimate it will create about 200 jobs.”

The new flights will commence from next March.

Mr George said the new roles would include pilots, baggage staff and airport personnel and that recruitment would begin in 2013.

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He said that while Monarch Airlines caters principally for the leisure market, the new services would also attract business customers.

He said: “We will fly to places like Rome, Barcelona and Munich so there is potential for business travellers going out and business people coming out of Europe to West Yorkshire.”

John Parkin, chief executive of Leeds-Bradford Airport, told the YEP that current improvements at the travel hub were part of the success in attracting new airlines, including Monarch.

He said: “I think it is an important part of it. Clearly in order to grow we have to have the capacity and that has to involve making a better experience for the customers.”