** easyJet is considering a bid for MonarchAirlines, the British airline owned by investment firm GreybullCapital, according to a report in the Sunday Times
** Monarch's owner said on Thursday that it had hired aninvestment bank to consider both "inbound and outbound" optionsfor the airline, prompting a number of newspaper reports
** The Sunday Telegraph reports that Monarch itself iseyeing bid targets including Air Berlin, TuiFly and Thomas CookAirlines
** Shares in easyJet climb 2 pct, slightly ahead of a 0.9percent rise across European travel stocks, whichanalysts attribute to a fall in the oil price on Monday
** Brent futures are trading at $41.15 per barrel,down 4.6 percent from their last settlement
** Other London-listed travel stocks TUI Group andBritish Airways-owner IAG also rise 2 pct
** Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo says an easyJet bid forMonarch is possible but not overly convincing: "It's not aludicrous idea by any means but it's not a compelling deal thatoffers something unique to easyJet which they have to go for"
** easyJet declines to comment on the Sunday Times story
** Monarch has over 30 aircraft, making it much smaller thaneasyJet which has over 240 aircraft
(RM: sarah.young.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)