Around 860,000 passengers have been affected by Monarch, Britain's fifth biggest airline, going into administration.

While 750,000 of them face an anxious wait to see if they can re-book their holiday with another airline, 110,000 people are still abroad and bringing them home will be the UK's biggest peacetime repatriation, as reported by Sky .

Monarch employs around 2,100 people and has struggled with mounting costs and competitive market conditions that have seen it suffer sustained losses.

Monarch chief executive Andrew Swaffield set out the reasons behind the failure in a letter to staff. He said that in the past year the airline had taken 14% more customers but £100m less in revenue. He said the fundamental cause of the fall in revenue was terror attacks in Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the huge slump in the tourist trade in Turkey.

The firm, which has its headquarters at Luton Airport, is the biggest UK airline to ever cease trading.

Punchline says this is a huge blow to the travel and aviation industry and we hope any Gloucestershire travellers affected make it home quickly. But beyond that there is a bound to be a knock-on effect on the aviation industry. Aviation is a big employer in the county, with companies like Safran and GE Aviation. We just hope the industry is resilient enough to weather the storm.

What do you think? Email mark@moosemarketingandpr.co.uk