UK jets on standby if Monarch Air fails, Sunday Times says

UK regulators have 10 aircraft ready to pick up Monarch Airlines holidaymakers if it halts flights, according to the Sunday Times. Two of the planes, which were all leased from Qatar Airways, are at London Stansted, the newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information from. A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority declined to comment on the report Sunday. A Monarch spokesman said its flights were operating as scheduled. As many as 100,000 travellers could be stranded if Monarch halts flights. The closely held carrier is facing renewed financial pressures, after a last-minute rescue last year, prompting a strategic review and regulatory concerns about its future. The CAA granted the airline a 24-hour extension to its Air Travel Organiser’s Licence Saturday. <br/>