Monarch, the leading UK independent airline group, announced it will extend its new summer route to Lisbon to its winter schedule. Flights to the Portuguese city will operate from Birmingham, London Gatwick and Manchester.

A new summer route between Birmingham and Madrid has also been announced following the news that Monarch plan to base an additional Airbus A320 aircraft at the UK airport bringing the total number of aircraft flying for Monarch to 35, with nine based at Birmingham.

Following the successful introduction of flights from London Luton late last year, a new route from Manchester to Tel Aviv will start in April 2016 and new frequencies to many of the airline’s most popular destinations such as Malaga, Alicante, Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife with flights at sociable times will also commence for the summer season.

New for winter 2016/17 are flights to Malaga from Leeds Bradford, Gibraltar, Almeria, and Gran Canaria from Gatwick, and Funchal from Manchester. The airline will also be operating a new scheduled route to Kittila, Finland from London Gatwick and Manchester with an extended range of Lapland holidays available through Monarch's tour operator.