Jet2.com boss Steve Heapy expects the company’s new base at Bournemouth will grow in future years, thanks to a “virtuous circle” of investment and extra capacity.
The airline and sister brand Jet2holidays unveiled their 12th UK base at Bournemouth airport on Tuesday (March 26) with services starting from April 1, 2025.
Sales for the summer 2025 programme opened on Tuesday morning and bookings started to be made immediately.
Two aircraft will initially be based at Bournemouth, offering 27 flights a week to 16 European destinations, carrying an estimated 150,000 customers.
The airport is currently served by Tui and Ryanair.
More: Jet2 to set up 12th UK base at Bournemouth airport
The operator’s trade team, led by travel agent relationships director Alan Cross, has begun meeting new and existing independent travel agency partners in the region.
“There’s quite a lot of marketing going on in this area. We’ve had a lot of demand from travel agents we know already and I think there’s a lot of potential here,” Heapy told a Travel Weekly webcast.
“If you look at the map of the UK and our 11 bases currently, the south of England is certainly a gap.”
He said Bournemouth airport is “committed” to growth, adding: “With us here, there’s going to be a lot more customers. Hopefully it becomes a virtuous circle.
“More capacity into the airport means more investment…more investment into the airport means probably more capacity.
“You look at our track record in all the bases that we’ve launched…we’ve not stuck with our initial number of aircraft; we’ve grown.
“We put more capacity on and it creates a virtuous circle and hopefully we’ll continue to grow here.”
Asked about expanding to other airports in the south, he said Jet2 is “very happy” with its 12 bases, adding: “Hopefully people of the south of England will have another choice [with Bournemouth].
“Some of those may currently go to Gatwick; some may not, but I’m sure we’ll start pulling people from wider than the local area.”
Heapy also pointed out how busy Gatwick and Heathrow are, commenting: “Gatwick has the busiest single runway airport in the world. And Heathrow has, I think, the busiest dual runway airport in the world, which tells you something about airport capacity.”