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BERLIN, Jan 29 (Reuters) - British budget airline Monarch,rescued by a private investor in October, expects to return toprofit this year after restructuring and a sharp fall in theprice of oil, its management said on Thursday.
Monarch, in which Greybull Capital agreed to invest 125million pound ($189 million) in October, has cut staff numbersand pay and is reducing its fleet to 34 aircraft from 42 in abid to bring its costs closer to those of rivals Ryanair and easyJet.
The airline, which targets sun-seeking Britons, is expectinglosses of 169 million pounds ($255.75 million) afterrestructuring costs in 2014, but forecasts operating profitsomewhere between 10 million and 100 million pounds in 2015.
"It's clearly going to be a substantial turnaround from theloss-making 2014," Chief Financial Officer Barry Nightingaletold Reuters. "But we are not yet able to predict whether it isgoing to be a low or high double-digit."
Airlines across the world are benefiting from lower oilprices, which have fallen by over 50 percent in six months.
But some industry experts and analysts have raised concernsthat cheap oil might be propping up some ailingairlines.
Chief Executive Andrew Swaffield said Monarch was enjoyingthe tailwind from lower fuel costs but that the restructuringplan was designed when oil prices were around $90 a barrel.
"The business plan was designed to deliver profitabilityeven at prices higher than $90," he said.
Unlike Ryanair and easyJet, Swaffield said, Monarch was notinterested in chasing business travellers.
"We're not focusing on high-frequency city pairs, we arefocused on longer leisure routes flying Brits to the sun."
($1 = 0.6610 pounds) (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
