‘Shock and anger’ over Monarch Airlines collapse
October 2, 2017 by admin
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Robson Smith
Empty check-in desks pictured on Monday morning at Gatwick Airport, London
Hundreds of thousands of Monarch Airlines passengers found out early on Monday via text message or letter that the company has ceased trading. Many have expressed distress and disbelief after their holiday plans were left in tatters.
‘Shock then anger’
Katie Ode drove to Manchester airport on Monday morning from Anglesey, north Wales, for a Monarch flight at 07:00 BST.
She told BBC Radio 5 Live she received a text message at 04:00 BST when she and her friend were only 10 minutes from the airport.
When they got closer, the scene outside the terminal was “chaotic”.
“There was a massive queue of traffic. Stewards were stopping every car saying there was no point going into the airport… there was no staff, they have gone home,” she said.
Ms Ode said she felt “shock at first, then anger”, mainly because it was their only holiday booked for the year.
She has phoned her package holiday company to see if she can get another flight or, if not, a refund.
‘£900 out of pocket’
David Elrick had his flight to Dalaman, Turkey, cancelled this morning from London Gatwick, but has managed to rebook.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’m at Gatwick airport still.
“I arrived at 05:00 the flight was due 07:10 and we were met by some of the staff at Gatwick airport handing out letters saying that Monarch had stopped trading.
“It wasn’t until we got to Gatwick that we were advised… You can imagine quite a few people were quite shocked by this.”
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Reuters
Letters were handed out at London Gatwick Airport
He said he managed to book an alternative flight online, but this cost him another £600 for him and his partner.
“Plus baggage and seats, I imagine I am £800 to £900 out of pocket.
“I booked through Thomson and they are Atol protected so hopefully there will be some form of compensation, but I’ll worry about that when I’m back from holiday.”
‘Absolutely gutted’
Steve Walker, from Northampton, told 5 Live: “Travelling to Luton – or I was – to fly to Sweden to defend my world power lifting title tomorrow.
“Now driving back home. No chance of getting to Sundsvall in time, three months of hard training down the pan. Absolutely gutted.”
‘First Ryanair, now Monarch’
Chris, from Milton Keynes, told 5 Live he had his Ryanair flight cancelled a couple of weeks ago and now his Monarch flight to Lanzarote in the New Year had been cancelled as well.
‘I thought it was a prank’
Mike Olley was due to fly back to Birmingham from Malaga on Monday.
“We got a text this morning saying that Monarch had gone out of business. I thought it was a prank,” he said.
“Our flight is at 12:15 back home today. We haven’t got any information on our flight yet.
“[It is a] bit of a shock to the system, but I am reassured by the assurances of [Transport Secretary] Chris Grayling. The CAA seems very up to speed but I feel sorry for the staff.”
‘I paid for flights on Saturday’
Stewart, from Renfrew, told 5 Live he booked flights from Manchester to Dalaman on Saturday.
“They took my money knowing they might go into administration,” he said.
“I have lost £750… I may have to cancel everything, my wife and two boy are going to be gutted.”
‘Really disappointed’
Joe Alvarez, 23, from London, said: “I have a flight booked with Monarch to Spain in three weeks to take my elderly grandmother to a family wedding, I am now worried that we won’t be able to go and she will be very upset.
“The flights are not Atol protected. They had cost £80 each. Other flights are looking really, really expensive.
“I’m really disappointed. I am quite upset that we won’t be able to go to the wedding.
“My grandmother doesn’t know yet. I need to speak to her, but I want to work out a plan before I do so I don’t worry her too much.”
‘Suitcase packed for three weeks’
John Shepherd, from Tamworth, told the BBC: “I was due to fly to Cyprus tomorrow morning with my 92-year-old blind dad. He’s had his suitcase packed for three weeks.
“We’ve been very lucky in that we went straight on the internet and have managed to book flights from Manchester to Cyprus – but it’s cost a fair bit of money.
“I’m worried we’ve lost all the money on the flights. We’ve now got to go through rigmarole of contacting the credit card company and seeing if we can get it back.
“I’m amazed a company as big as them has gone so quickly.”
An employee’s perspective
One Monarch Airlines worker, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC: “We’ve had a really good performance recently so I’m shocked.
“I work in training at head office. I never thought it would come to this. That it would go this badly wrong.
“Management have been excellent and very transparent in their communications so far today. I spoke to my manager this morning and they were happy to answer any of my questions and gave me their personal number if they ever need to contact them.
“We have a meeting at the head office later this morning so I will find out what is going to happen next.”
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Coast Guard report: Captain errors led up to El Faro sinking
October 2, 2017 by admin
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A Coast Guard report released Sunday says the primary cause of the 2015 sinking of the cargo ship El Faro, which killed all 33 aboard, was the captain underestimating the strength of a hurricane and overestimating the ship’s strength.
The report said Capt. Michael Davidson should have changed the El Faro’s route between Jacksonville, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, to avoid Hurricane Joaquin’s 150 mph (240 kph) winds. When the 790-foot (240-meter) vessel got stuck he should have taken more aggressive measures to save it.
Speaking at a news conference in Jacksonville, Florida, Capt. Jason Neubauer also said the Coast Guard would have sought to revoke Davidson’s license if he had survived.
Davidson “was ultimately responsible for the vessel, the crew and its safe navigation,” said Neubauer, who chaired the investigation.
He said Davidson “misjudged the path of Hurricane Joaquin and overestimated the vessel’s heavy weather survivability while also failing to take adequate precautions to monitor and prepare for heavy weather. During critical periods of navigation … he failed to understand the severity of the situation, even when the watch standards warned him the hurricane was intensifying.”
Davidson, 53, was recorded telling a crew member a few hours before the sinking, “There’s nothing bad about this ride. I was sleepin’ like a baby. This is every day in Alaska,” where he had previously worked.
The report also says the ship’s owner, TOTE Maritime Inc., had not replaced a safety officer, spreading out those duties among other managers, and had violated regulations regarding crew rest periods and working hours. The Coast Guard said it will seek civil actions against TOTE but no criminal penalties as there was no criminal intent.
TOTE Maritime released a statement Sunday saying the report “is another piece of this sacred obligation that everyone who works upon the sea must study and embrace. The report details industry practices which need change.”
The 40-year-old El Faro went down on Oct. 1, 2015, sinking in 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) of water to the sea floor near the Bahamas. No bodies were ever recovered. It was the worst maritime disaster for a U.S.-flagged vessel since 1983.
Voice recordings recovered from the ship show an increasingly panicked and stressed crew fighting to save the ship after it lost propulsion as they battled wind, shifting cargo and waves.
Davidson ordered the ship abandoned shortly before it sank but its open air lifeboats likely would have provided insufficient protection, the Coast Guard said. The agency said it would recommend that all ships now be equipped with modern enclosed lifeboats — if the El Faro had such lifeboats, the crew may have survived, Neubauer said.
El Faro was one of two ships owned by TOTE Maritime Inc. that navigated in constant rotation on shipping runs between Jacksonville, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. It brought everything from milk to Mercedes Benzes to the island.
Other findings included:
— A few weeks before the accident, TOTE stopped employing in port helpers who assisted its ships’ crews to safely load cargo. The Coast Guard said the El Faro’s crew had difficulty keeping up with the pace needed to get the ship out on schedule. A manager at the port took a photo of the El Faro the day before its final launch because unbalanced loading had caused it to lean heavily to one side, more than he had ever seen. He alerted stevedores, who added containers to the other side to rebalance the ship.
— When the El Faro departed Jacksonville the oil level in its main engine was below the manufacturer’s recommendation although still within the range for operation. That became crucial when the El Faro began leaning in the storm as the oil level no longer reached the pump. That starved the engine, shutting it down. The loss of propulsion left the El Faro helpless against Joaquin and its waves.
— Four of the five Polish workers who had been temporarily assigned to the El Faro spoke little English and none of them had been briefed on safety procedures. The wife of one of the men told investigators “he had never seen or worked on a hulk like this” and that as he worked, rust would fall into his eyes.
— A weather prediction system that would have sent emailed updates about Joaquin to Davidson had not been activated.
— Less than six hours before the El Faro sank Second Mate Danielle Randolph, who was in charge of safety, was recorded telling another crew member that drills were not taken seriously. She added that crew members rarely try on their survival suits to make sure they fit. As the ship was going down and Davidson ordered the ship abandoned, Randolph was heard leaving the bridge to find life vests either because none were stored there as required or she didn’t know where they were.
— The National Hurricane Center should re-evaluate the effectiveness of its forecasts for storms that may not make landfall but may impact ships.
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Writer Jason Dearen in Gainesville, Florida, contributed to this report.