Jet2 and Jet2holidays continues to see sluggish demand for winter holidays and is keeping capacity under continuous review.
However, the UK’s second largest travel group reported optimism for summer 2022 with a rise in average load factors over the same period for the pre-pandemic summer of 2019.
The details are to be issued at the company’s annual meeting today (Thursday) ahead of a further trading update when interim results are released on November 18.
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Executive chairman Philip Meeson is due to tell the AGM: “We believe opportunities for financially strong, resilient and trusted operators will only increase as travel restrictions are lifted.
“As at 30 August, our ‘own cash’ balance excluding customer deposits was £1.52 billion, an increase of £0.46 billion on 31 March 2021.”
The company is operating this summer at 55% of pre-Covid summer 2019 capacity with a programme to 32 green and amber-list destinations.
Meeson will say: “Unsurprisingly, given the continuing short-term uncertainty resulting from the UK government’s three weekly review of its traffic light system, customers are booking significantly closer to departure for summer ‘21.
“Despite the limited booking visibility, pleasingly, we have generated positive financial contribution from the flying to date, supported by our quick to market, flexible operating model.”
He will add: “The slower momentum for winter ‘21/22 bookings which we reported in our preliminary results in early July has remained.
“As a result, bookings have yet to match our on-sale seat capacity and therefore pricing for both our leisure travel products – end-to-end package holidays with Jet2holidays and flight-only seats with Jet2.com – will need to remain consistently enticing.
“The overall winter ‘21/22 capacity remains under continuous review.”
Looking forward to next summer, Meeson will say: “Bookings to date are encouraging, with average load factors at the same point ahead of summer ‘19 and package holiday customer numbers as a proportion of total departing customers showing a material increase.
“Therefore, we remain optimistic that summer ‘22 will be a considerable improvement on both summer ‘20 and summer ‘21.
“We are confident that once normality returns, our customers will be determined to enjoy the wonderful experience of a well-deserved Jet2 holiday and that Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will continue to have a thriving future, taking millions of UK holidaymakers annually, to the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and to European leisure cities.”
The AGM comes just days after the firm committed to up to 60 Airbus A321neo aircraft.
“In our opinion, the Airbus A321 neo is the most efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft in its class today,” Meeson will add.
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