Monarch Airlines owner puts engineering arm up for sale

The engineering arm of Monarch Airlines, the holiday carrier that collapsed last year, has been put up for sale by its majority owner, private equity group Greybull Capital. Monarch Aircraft Engineering, which services aircraft for a range of leading airlines including Virgin Atlantic and easyJet, is in talks with a number of potential buyers about a sale of all or parts of its business.  It is the last remnant of Monarch Airlines, which went bust last year after several restructuring attempts. The failure of the airline, also owned by Greybull Capital, forced the UK government to launch its biggest peacetime repatriation operation, flying home more than 80,000 people. The airlift cost taxpayers £60m. Monarch was founded in 1968 by the Swiss-Italian Mantegazza family.  The engineering business survived the collapse but was put through a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), a form of insolvency, last month to shed historic debt inherited from its airline affiliate. The insolvency led to the loss of some customers, the company said.  “A CVA, completed in November to resolve historic debt which did not relate to the company’s day-to-day operation, has resulted in some loss of custom which has presented the business with a number of challenges which need to be resolved,” Monarch Aircraft Engineering said this weekend. <br/>