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Air fares could be hiked to protect against a future Monarch-style crisis, the Transport Secretary suggested tonight.

Chris Grayling said slapping an ATOL insurance levy on tickets was one way to ensure stranded Brits are protected.

Monarch’s collapse on October 2 forced the Civil Aviation Authority to lay on 567 flights to bring 84,000 Brits home.

Today Mr Grayling demanded Monarch’s private equity owner Greybull Capital help pay the £60million bill.

He said he hoped the firm would “feel a moral obligation to contribute” if it claims some of Monarch’s reported £48million cash in the bank.

He also told the Commons Transport Committee: “What do you do about the insurance?

“We were faced with a position whereby we had 110,000 people overseas. Some of them but only a minority had ATOL protection... Should there be an ATOL levy or a similar levy on air tickets?

(Image: SWNS.com)

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“The consequence of that is you have to put it on every air ticket, it’s not just your Monarch type planes, it’s actually an Emirates flight to Dubai you have to charge extra on.

“You would effectively be putting up air passenger duty.

“So these are not straightforward things, and I think we do need to look very carefully now at how we handle these issues in future.”

Mr Grayling said "I completely agree" with calls for Greybull Capital to pay some of the £60 million bill for the two-week operation.

The Government previously said it hopes to recoup some of the cost from credit cards companies and tour operators whose customers were booked on Monarch flights.

"I would hope that if any of the creditors end up with money in pocket that they might indeed consider doing that and I would certainly not hesitate to say so to them," he said.

(Image: PA)

"I would hope in a world where social responsibility is important to corporate reputation, that those involved - if indeed they recover monies in the way that has been suggested - might feel a moral obligation to contribute.

"I'm sure we will always look to try and encourage social responsibility."

As Monarch's main secured creditor, Greybull has first call on any cash realised from asset sales by administrator KPMG, which is expected to recoup millions from selling the airline's landing slots.

Greybull is run by brothers Marc and Nathaniel Meyohas and Richard Perlhagen.

The last of the repatriation flights - a service from Tel Aviv in Israel with 122 passengers - landed at Luton Airport at just after 3.30am on Monday.

Meanwhile Mr Grayling blasted Ryanair after the firm cancelled a string of flights in a blunder over pilots’ leave.

The budget carrier was accused by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of not complying with the law.

Mr Grayling said: “I don’t think it was a triumphal period in the history of Ryanair. I’m sure customers will have noted the experience at the time.

“I think they have some reputation rebuilding to do.”

Mr Grayling told the committee that it is “unacceptable for any airline not to fulfil the responsibilities of consumer law” and declared that the CAA “will be tough” on airlines.

It came hours after red-faced Mr Grayling joined a “fantastic” new Bristol-to-London train - which arrived 41 minutes late.

Passengers were forced to stand and the air conditioning was switched off after it leaked on commuters.