August 16, 2008 -- Award-winning low fares airline Monarch is celebrating a record breaking month after carrying almost 460,000 passengers on scheduled flights in July 2008, the highest number of passengers carried in any one month.

The increase has been aided by the recent launch of new routes from Gatwick and Manchester to Larnaca (Cyprus) and from Gatwick to Menorca.

Monarch's passenger statistics for scheduled services during July 2008:

Passenger numbers (1)

July 2008: 459,914

July 2007: 437,646

% change: +5.09%

Load factor (2)

July 2008: 86.15%

July 2007: 83.48%

% change: +2.67%

Internet sales percentage (3)

July 2008: 89%

July 2007: 87%

% change: +2%

Overall, for both scheduled and charter services, Monarch carried a total of 826,815 passengers during July 2008.

1. Represents the number of earned seats flown by Monarch. Earned seats include seats that are flown whether or not the passenger turns up because once a flight has departed a no-show customer is not entitled to change flights or seek a refund.

2. Represents the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers.

3. Represents the percentage of total seats sold via the Monarch Airlines website.

Notes to editors:

Monarch operates scheduled flights to Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal and Cyprus from Birmingham, London Gatwick, London Luton and Manchester airports and was named as Leisure Airline of the Year in recent Travel Industry Awards for the second year in succession. In addition to year-round low fares, Monarch also offers a unique range of tasty hot and cold meals onboard with prices from £3.00. Seats can be pre-booked at £6 per one-way flight to avoid the last minute free-for-all experienced on some other airlines, or from only £15, 48 extra-legroom seats are available which offer up to six inches of extra space. Regular travellers are rewarded too, with a range of benefits through the airline's loyalty scheme, Vantage Club.

Passengers travelling on scheduled flights can also avoid the queues at the airport and take advantage of online check-in which is available between seven days and 4.5 hours prior to departure.

For more information or to book your cheap flights, visit http://flights.monarch.co.uk.