Jet2's Philip Meeson reveals he is to step down from the company's board
Mr Meeson, who is the company’s executive chairman, said he remained committed to Jet2 and will continue to support his successor and the management team. Jet2 also revealed that the rebound in consumer confidence to travel helped underpin a significantly improved financial performance over the last financial year, as group profit before FX revaluation and taxation increased to £390.8m, which was 48 per cent higher than the pre-Covid financial year. In a statement, to accompany the results, Jet2 said that Mr Meeson bought the business in 1983, when it was a small cargo airline and distribution company serving the Channel Islands.
"The company subsequently listed in November 1988 and has since become one of the UK's leading leisure travel businesses. Philip will move to non-executive chair during the course of this year and remain in that role until a successor is appointed.”
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Hide AdMr Meeson commented: "I am extremely proud of the business I and colleagues have developed over the past 40 years and have huge respect for the newly enlarged board and the outstanding management team that over recent years has built up Jet2holidays to become the largest package holiday provider in the UK, together with Jet2.com, the UK's third largest airline. Jet2holidays is a well trusted UK leisure travel brand with a great in-house airline, which together - through our unwavering commitment to our customers and the ethos of 'People, Service, Profits' - have created a leading family friendly holiday product. I therefore remain confident in the outlook for the group, but I am conscious of my age and the need to plan an orderly succession.”
Jet2, which also announced its preliminary results for the year ended March 31 2023, recently announced its intention to start operations from Liverpool John Lennon Airport from March 2024, which will be its eleventh UK base.
The statement added: “The resumption of international travel in early 2022 resulted in the group’s financial performance for the year ended March 31 2023 exceeding our pre-pandemic performance for the year ended March 31 2020.
“The positive progress reflects the decisions made in late 2021 to retain over 8,000 loyal colleagues throughout the pandemic, recruiting and training in good time for summer 2022, making early and substantial marketing investments and giving meaningful salary increases to all colleagues. It also demonstrates the robust and sustainable nature of our business model.”
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Hide Ad“Despite being very well prepared for our summer operations, plus the exceptional dedication of our colleagues who consistently went above and beyond to ensure our customers could finally embark on
their long-awaited holidays, regrettably some customers experienced frustrating delays. These hold ups were a direct consequence of the widespread disruption experienced throughout the aviation sector,
including but not limited to ground handling suppliers’ poor customer service, long queues for airport security checks and bottlenecks in baggage handling areas, all of which led to extreme levels of airport
congestion.”