Around 280 jobs based at Birmingham Airport have been preserved after the engineering arm of collapsed airline Monarch announced it would continue as a standalone business.
In 2013, Monarch Aircraft Engineering opened a giant new hangar the size of four football pitches at the airport where it provides jet maintenance and testing services to Monarch and other companies on a contract basis.
But the group said Monarch Airlines going into administration would not affect business there and at its other UK hubs, due in part to it recently winning a major new contract with Virgin Atlantic Airlines which will be serviced out of Birmingham.
Around 110,000 people are believed to be stranded abroad as they are unable to take Monarch flights back to the UK while travellers expecting to leave the country today with Monarch have been told to stay away from UK airports as no flights will depart.
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Monarch Aircraft Engineering employs more than 730 staff at six locations in the UK and four overseas.
While Monarch Airlines was a significant customer, the company says it is focussing now on servicing its other existing clients and securing new business.
Monarch Aircraft Engineering has just won a "new significant contract" from Virgin Atlantic Airlines for which it will carry out checks on its Boeing fleet until 2021 at its base at Birmingham Airport.
And at the Paris Air Show in June, the company announced a joint venture partnership with Boeing Global Services to collaborate on securing additional third-party fleet servicing agreements.
Managing director Chris Dare said: "Monarch Aircraft Engineering has always been a standalone business within the Monarch Group, holding its own cash, employees and property.
"Despite what has happened at Monarch Airlines, we continue to trade as normal with renewed focus on servicing our existing clients and winning new contracts. It's business as usual.
"We are extremely happy to have secured Virgin as a new customer for our Birmingham facility.
"This yet again proves our ability to secure new business with the very best customers in an extremely competitive market.
"Our expanding customer base at Birmingham is testament to our efficient, reliable and high-quality base maintenance team.
"As a new customer, we look forward to welcoming 17 of Virgin's Boeing 787 aircraft into our Birmingham hangar over the next four years."
The hanger at Birmingham Airport opened in November 2013 and three years later management launched another recruitment drive to hire a further 75 skilled engineers to carry out maintenance on many different types of aircraft.
