A strong start by Jet2 and Jet2holidays to the summer booking cycle has been dampened by the spread of coronavirus across Europe.
Parent company Dart Group today warned that it was unable to determine the impact of the virus on its financial performance for the 2020-21 financial year.
The group said in a trading update today: “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.”
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Profits for the 12 months to the end of March this year are expected to be “significantly ahead” of market expectations due to the continued success of Dart’s airline and tour operation.
“However, future reductions of full year 2021 flying capacity will result in a proportion of the company’s existing hedging contracts becoming ineffective, thereby impacting those profits,” the firm added.
“Until very recently, customer demand for our very popular package holidays and flight-only leisure travel products has remained consistently strong, with the important January and February booking performance resulting in our summer 2020 bookings tracking well ahead of our 16% summer seat capacity increase.
“Understandably, however, momentum has weakened over recent weeks with the increased reporting of Covid-19 cases in Europe.
“Nevertheless, our current cumulative summer 2020 bookings remain above those at this time last year.”
The continuing success of the group’s package holidays, including the new Vibe brand, together with “strong and prudent balance sheet, gives us long term confidence for the future”
“However, given the limited visibility on the impact of Covid-19, the board is currently unable to determine how this will effect group profit before foreign exchange revaluation and taxation for the financial year ending 31 March 2021.
Dart plans to provide a further update both on 2020 profits and a fuller outlook for the summer 2020 trading period “as circumstances evolve”.