The champagne was flowing at London Luton on Friday to celebrate Monarch's partnership with UK record label Hed Kandi, to produce flykandi. The assembled media hobnobbed before boarding Monarch's Hed Kandi-liveried Boeing 757 - see the picture to believe it.
The partnership between the low-cost carrier and Hed Kandi, which includes livery, logos, brand and web space, is worth £300,000 to Hed Kandi, and it is apparently the first time in history an aircraft has been liveried by a music brand.
Although a blatant attempt by Monarch to cut a piece of the youth market, this brand repositioning will allow Monarch "to make ourselves relevant", according to managing director Tim Jeans.
The partnering of one of the UK's largest low-cost airlines with a music brand proved somewhat incongruous at Friday's press launch, bringing together the designer-sneaker mob from Hed Kandi with the suits from Monarch. As Tim Jeans said himself in his presentation: "I have rarely felt so old or so square. I must be the least trendy person on this aircraft."
The partnership comes as Monarch is preparing to launch its new flights to the Spanish party island of Ibiza, flying there five times a week from Manchester, Birmingham, London Gatwick and London Luton.
Jeans underscored the importance of the scale of the offering to "create rapid awareness". A total of 125,000 seats are on sale on the Ibiza route this summer, but Monarch already has 20,000 bookings, and "a lot of web activity".
on May 2, 2007 1:41 PM | Reply
When this was parked at Luton, the Left Front Door was open, so I couldn't quite make out the livery - was that an h or a b. Led to much hilarity in the office.
on May 2, 2007 4:03 PM | Reply
You could be forgiven for the confusion!