Jet2 sees profits soar despite air traffic control chaos and wildfires on Greek islands

The group said it had enjoyed “a strong first half of the financial year”, with operating profit increasing by 19 per cent to £617.0m, which included approximately £14.0m of lost profitability from the broader disruption caused by the “NATS failure, Rhodes wildfires and flooding in Skiathos as was widely reported in the media”.

It said on Thursday that the average price of a Jet2holiday package rose 11 per cent to £855 in the six months to the end of September. The business also saw its net ticket yield for customers only buying flights increase by 18 per cent to a little over £124.

Steve Heapy, Jet2 plc chief executive officer, commented: “We are pleased to have delivered another strong financial performance during the first half of the financial year, despite the well-publicised external challenges faced. This clearly demonstrates that our end-to-end package holiday is a popular and resilient product and is the right product for price conscious customers.

“Our customer first ethos runs deep throughout our company culture with 'People, Service, Profits' our guiding principles and our commitment to an innovative, value for money product and exceptional customer service is unwavering. We are truly grateful to have such exceptional colleagues who are not only some of the best in their profession but are also highly motivated and incredibly proud to provide this level of service.

“As a result, we remain confident that as a customer focused and much trusted holiday provider, our customers will continue to travel with us to the sun spots of the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and to European leisure cities and that we can continue to deliver on our long-term strategy to be the UK's leading and best leisure travel business.”

In a statement, Jet2 added: “Our customer first ethos means we endeavour to embed sufficient resilience into our operations, including

but not limited to, standby aircraft and crews, generous amounts of in-resort customer helpers, plus responsive ‘go teams’, which enable us to effectively navigate unforeseen events such as those experienced this summer in Rhodes (wildfires) and Skiathos (flooding), the technological systems failure at NATS, and the record number of air traffic control strikes across Europe.

"This proactive approach meant we were able to act swiftly to commit the necessary resources to support our customers during these incidents with our colleagues responding admirably.”

The statement added: “As is typical for the group, losses are to be expected in the second half of the financial year, as we continue

to invest in: additional aircraft; marketing to ensure we optimise our pre-Summer 2024 forward booking position; retaining increasing numbers of colleagues through the winter months to ensure appropriate operational resilience ahead of next summer; and attracting new colleagues in readiness for further expansion of our exciting package holiday and flight-only offerings, including at our new base at Liverpool

John Lennon Airport where operations commence in late March 2024.”