Jet2 says forward bookings remain encouraging as it faces cost pressures

The Leeds-based company said that following the trading update in late January 2023, the board now expects to report a group profit before foreign exchange revaluation and taxation for the year ended March 31 2023 of between £387m and £392m.

Total cash at March 31 2023 was £2.62bn with an “own cash” balance, excluding customer advance deposits, of £1.12bn.

The trading statement added: “On sale seat capacity for Summer 2023 is currently 7.2 per cent higher than summer 2022 at 15.26m seats.

“Forward bookings to date remain encouraging, with the mix of package holiday customers representing just over 75 per cent of total departing passengers and 5ppts higher than summer 2022 at the same point.

"In addition, average load factors for summer 2023 are currently 0.7ppts ahead of summer 2022.”

"Although the group is facing input cost pressures including fuel, carbon taxes, a strengthened US dollar and wage increases, plus investment to ensure our colleagues can thrive and have a balanced lifestyle, pricing for both our package holiday and flight‐only products remains strong and margins per booked passenger are encouraging, with customers eager to take their much valued holidays.”

The statement continued: “Just as we did last year, we invested well ahead of the summer season to ensure we have adequate, fully trained resources to operate with our normal high standards of customer care.

"In addition, we have increased our operational resilience by taking control of handling operations at a further two of our UK bases ‐ Bristol and Newcastle ‐ meaning we now self‐handle at seven of our 10 UK bases and are therefore not reliant on third parties for these aspects of our operations.”

Jet2 said it was pleased with its current position, “but with the new financial year having only recently commenced, the continued threat of summer European air traffic control disruption, and over 40 per cent of the summer 23 season plus the majority of winter 23/24 still to sell, it is too early to provide definitive guidance as to group profitability for the financial year.”

It added: “We remain confident that with our customer focused approach and ‘right product for these tougher times’, our customers will continue to be keen to travel with us to the sun spots of the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and to European leisure cities.

“The group will announce its preliminary results for the year ended March 31 2023 on July 6 2023 at which point it will provide a fuller outlook for the all‐important summer 2023 trading period.”

The company has been widely praised for its handling of customer refunds for trips cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions.

Jet2.com also celebrated the 20th anniversary of its first flight, from Leeds Bradford airport to Amsterdam, in February