Grounded: CelebAir

Since Christmas is upon us and airline bankruptcies are rather depressing I have decided to do something something more cheerful but still on topic. This latest episode of Grounded looks at CelebAir, a short lived "reality TV" programme broadcast on ITV2 during the autumn of 2008. The show, which featured 11 celebrities "working" for an airline involved Monarch Airlines, one of the UK's oldest and most respected carriers, who in a fit of madness let them use one of their Airbus A321s for the debacle...
OK, I'm going to be honest, I have tried my best to cover the programme fairly and impartially, however I should point out that aside from it making a mockery of my career it also took place during my final weeks in the air, including the very night my airline went bust. Aside from the odd moment of my sarcasm seeping through, I really have tried but this was my first sort of "crossover" episode and difficult to do, after doing this I will admit just covering an airline bankruptcy is much easier...
It's supposed to be something less depressing given Christmas is upon us, hopefully you will watch it and enjoy it with the same fun spirit that I intended when making it :)
I would also like to take this opportunity to hope that you had a great Christmas and wish you a fantastic new year, and to also thank you all for your continued support over this last year and further back :)
I really appreciate any comments and feedback on this or other episodes as well as suggestions for future episodes. Believe me, if I say that your airline is "on the list", it really is :) Check back to see future episodes or better yet, subscribe to catch them as they land and as always, thanks for watching!
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#CelebAir #CelebAirline #CelebAirITV

[@AviationCommercials]

As this one started, I thought - wow the UK has a lot of airlines shows- then you mentioned them all! Monarch always had a lovely livery. I have several of their models. I'd love to have large DC-10 model.

[@ExpoAviation]

Airport was by far the best one, Airline was ok and it's spin off "Holiday Airline" was alright too as it was the same programme but with Monarch instead of easyJet. Trolley Dollies on the other hand was naff and the sooner CelebAir is forgotten about the better, so well done me on digging that up, oops ;)
Monarch were my favourite airline and I was absolutely heartbroken at their demise, especially so since I had lined a job up with them at the time :/ Their black and gold livery was timeless and would still look perfect on an A350 or even A380... I too have several of their models, well most of them come to think of it. I have a DC-10 sat on my desk beside me alongside a MyTravel DC-10, framed fuselage piece off G-CIVL and a Boeing clock...
I think I got distracted there, I collect everything Monarch related, from models to manuals, loadsheets to safety cards and even have a complete First Officer uniform. If I see any DC-10s on ebay in the US I'll give you a shout, same if I see one over here with cheap enough postage to you :)

[@richardoxford2310]

Awaiting your Monarch Grounded episode as I spent 32 years with them as crew.

[@ExpoAviation]

I'm still working on Monarch, quite a bit and complex one but hopefully worth the wait :)

[@aalias00]

CelebAir feels like it gives off the vibe of your uncle who always wants to tell you a joke but are never funny. Other than that awesome job on the video!! :)

[@ExpoAviation]

Thanks, I think ;)

[@DeanBall75]

Poor old Monarch, always felt it was 'left on the shelf' when the likes of Thomas Cook, TUI, First Choice, Airtours etc (or Britannia/Air2000 in old money) started merging. Very strange it didn't get taken over or indeed bought out a competitor. They did another tie up with Hed Kandi around the same time so were quite into this dual branding 'fun' aspect of the business. Perhaps if it had moved its operations to other regional airports rather than the usual Gatwick/Manchester/Birmingham/EastMids etc it may have ended up as an alternative to Easy jet or Ryanair. Sad really.

[@ExpoAviation]

Yeah, by the time that everyone had paired off there was nobody left for them to tie up with. I recall a rumour back in 2008 that they were going to merge with us at XL which we laughed off (completely incompatible fleets for a start). I think for Monarch it all started to fall apart after the split from "The Family" with it getting progressively worse until Greybull turned up and finished them off.

[@AlexAviation.]

I never thought to herd of Celebair which I never herd of in my childhood but thank you Expo for bringing back memories ❤

[@ExpoAviation]

Thanks Alex, hopefully good memories :)

[@marlon_kandaros]

Can you please do one on primera air or monarch airlines

[@ExpoAviation]

Yes I am working on both Primera and Monarch :)

[@joe36451]

Glad you’re back and wishing you a happy holiday as well

[@ExpoAviation]

Thank you :) I hope you had a good one :)

[@gregorylenton8200]

Hello phil...want to wish you and your family happy holidays and a great 2022...enjoy all your vlogs,,makes my day......thanks

[@ExpoAviation]

Hi Gregory, thank you, I appreciate that, I hope you and your family have had a great Christmas and all the best for 2022 :)

[@757official6]

Could you do an episode on America West Airlines please ?🙂

[@ExpoAviation]

Yep, I've got America West in my sights 😉

[@leathomas9983]

I forgot about celeb air! Thanks for bringing it back to mind!
Was a darn cheek that to fly with them was considerably more than the standard Monarch price!
As for Monarchs demise - piss-poor management and dropping the bread & butter of charter was their downfall - why stop guaranteed income in the hope people will fly with you by choice?
Also Greyballs making a deal with the devil in Chicago for a disaster of an aircraft was a huge mistake too - why buy something you don’t need & can’t afford?

[@ExpoAviation]

That doesn't surprise me, pay a premium just for the chance to appear on tv... No doubt that extra money went to the TV company. You are certainly right regarding Monarch's downfall, to be fair their hand was sort of forced with the Swiss finally deciding to offload the company but surely Monarch could have retained a partnership with Cosmos as well as picked up independent work - which considering the consolidations amongst other charter carriers would have made Monarch a very appealing partner. As for the Max, well, I have no doubt that Greybull were planning on selling Monarch to Norwegian (who were still expanding) and a fleet of shiny new 737s would be far more attractive than the existing Airbus fleet :/

[@tdestroyer1882]

Fantastic vid!

[@ExpoAviation]

Thank you :)

[@gordonwerner]

“So what went wrong…”. Lol. 😂

[@ExpoAviation]

Haha yes, if I had asked "so, what went right?" instead then the only answer could have been "cancelled" ;)

[@jojoduck757]

Could you do Monarch please

[@ExpoAviation]

Yes, I am working on Monarch - it's just taking a while to work through all of the paperwork :)

[@duc_busspotting3412]

Nice Idea and Nice Video:)

[@ExpoAviation]

Thank you :)

[@Bungle-UK]

Redefining the word ‘celebrity’

[@ExpoAviation]

Haha yes indeed, then again if they did this show today it would mostly be instagrammers and tweeters...

[@randomscb-40charger78]

Nah definitely TikTokers would be involved just because some TV company wants to abuse aircraft and passengers with obnoxious crackpots.

[@antr7493]

"Celeb" Air

[@ExpoAviation]

Haha yeah, when it first aired I had only heard of two of them. I had to google the rest to do the episode :/