Administrator KPMG is seeking legal opinion as to whether it is able to sell the take-off and landing slots at Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds/Bradford. The average 15 daily slot pairs the airline held at congested Gatwick are worth tens of millions on the open market.

Judges will decide whether the slots are counted as Monarch’s assets and can therefore be sold, or whether they must instead go back into the ‘pool’ and be bid for by airlines in the normal way.

Blair Nimmo, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: “Given the complexity of the slot exchange process, we are seeking a judicial review on this particular matter.

“In addition to assisting the joint administrators fulfil their statutory duties, we believe this to be in the wider public interest, with the intention of resolving this matter quickly and with the greatest chance of maximising the continued use of the slots.”

KPMG would not confirm press speculation that the Gatwick slots are worth around £60 million and said this figure “had not come from KPMG”.