Jet2.com owner looks to reduce capacity on flights due to coronavirus

Earlier this week the firm announced plans to cancel all flights from Leeds Bradford airport to Italy, which has the largest number of coronavirus cases outside China. The ban includes flights to Rome, Naples, Pisa, Turin, Venice and Verona and the cancellations are in place until April 26.

Despite this, Dart said it expects annual pre-tax profits for the year to March 31 to be significantly ahead of current market expectations thanks to the success of its growing leisure travel operations.

However, future reductions to its flying capacity will result in a proportion of the company’s existing hedging contracts becoming ineffective, thereby hitting profits.

Dart said that until very recently, customer demand for its package holidays and flight-only leisure travel has remained consistently strong, with the important January and February booking performance resulting in its summer 2020 bookings tracking well ahead of its 16 per cent summer seat capacity increase.

However, momentum has weakened over recent weeks with the increased reporting of Covid-19 cases in Europe. Despite this, current cumulative summer 2020 bookings are above the level seen at this time last year.

The firm said the continuing success of its package holidays, including its newly launched ‘’Vibe’’ brand, together with its “strong and prudent” balance sheet gives it long term confidence for the future.

Given the limited visibility on the impact of Covid-19, the board said it is currently unable to determine how this will affect group profit before foreign exchange revaluation and taxation for the financial year ending March 31, 2021.

The firm said in a trading update: “We continue to monitor the situation carefully and are taking proportionate actions to underpin the stability of the business, which includes reducing capacity on some routes where warranted, but always keeping at front of mind the need to ensure our customers experience the holidays they deserve.”

Dart said customers who are currently in Italy are being contacted and arrangements made to fly them back to the UK.

A spokesman for Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: “We always follow the travel advice of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), who are currently advising against all but essential travel to Italy.

“As such, we have cancelled all flights to Italy (Rome, Naples, Pisa, Turin, Venice and Verona) between now and April 26 (inclusive).

“We are contacting customers who are due to travel to Italy to advise them of their options, and we are also contacting customers who are currently in Italy, to arrange to fly them back to the UK.

“The health and safety of our customers is always our number one priority. We are continuing to monitor the situation very closely and will adjust our programme accordingly.

“As we do this, we would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding.”

Dart said its distribution and logistics business, Fowler Welch, is trading in line with expectations and is developing its revenue pipeline with existing and new business opportunities.

As circumstances evolve, the board said it will provide a further update both in relation to the 2020 profit outcome and a fuller outlook for the summer 2020 trading period.