Britain's Monarch Airlines has ceased operations with immediate effect, leaving 110,000 customers stranded overseas and about 300,000 future bookings cancelled.

The airline used to operate to Malta from the East Midlands in the UK but those flights ceased in 2015.

"We're sorry to announce that Monarch has suspended flights and holidays," Monarch said on Twitter. http://bit.ly/2wrQBpZ

Tough competition in the airlines sector has been putting pressure on weaker European carriers and driving consolidation, with Air Berlin and Alitalia filing for insolvency this year and seeking new investors for parts of their business.

READ: Monarch kicks off Malta - East Midlands route

"This is the UK's largest ever airline to enter administration," the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)said.

The government has asked CAA to charter more than 30 aircraft to bring back to the UK Monarch Airlines customers currently overseas, CAA said in a statement. http://bit.ly/2wsQ5rQ

The government has begun the biggest ever peacetime repatriation effort to return the affected passengers, Department for Transport, Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement.

Monarch said on Thursday it was talking to potential partners after a report that parts of its short-haul network would be sold. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.