Jet2holidays’ boss said sales bookings have “gone through the roof” after the government announced it will be relaxing Covid travel restrictions.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, chief executive Steve Heapy said the operator and its sister airline Jet2.com saw an immediate increase in visits to its website after the major changes were announced by prime minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday afternoon (January 5).
“Yesterday, we saw all seasons, all months recover significantly,” he said on Thursday morning.
“We saw even January was massively up – January, February, March, people want to get away.
“People now have more confidence in order to book a holiday.”
He said the hassle and expense of tests were a major hurdle, along with the fears of getting stranded in resort if they tested negative for Covid-19.
“Some people have had the holiday changed two, three, four times and they are desperate to get away. Some people haven’t been away for two or three years,” he said.
He said sales improved across the board, for departures from January 2022 until October 2023.
Bookings were also boosted by a flash sale launched immediately after the government announcement, offering £50 off per person for all winter 21-22, summer 22, winter 22-23, and summer 23 Jet2holidays.
Heapy also said the brands are seeing “record numbers” of new customers, perhaps coming to Jet2 as they had been let down by other tour operators with refunds or service, or had previously packaged their own holidays.
“Our record is impeccable for the way we’ve treated customers, not just refunds but customer service,” he said.
“We are a company that’s investing and not cutting costs.”
Earlier this week, Jet2.com revealed it is maintaining its Which? Recommended Provider status for airlines, after receiving its highest-ever customer score of 82%. It also means Jet2.com, Jet2holidays and Jet2CityBreaks all continue to receive Which? Recommended Provider status..
Heapy told the webcast that summer 2022 will see a return to normality, with capacity for this summer higher than it was in 2019 and an order in for 75 new aircraft.
“We are getting to the stage where we are emerging from the Covid period and hopefully back to normal,” he said.
“We’re a confident company. Our bookings are encouraging for the last couple of weeks, they’ve been below where we wanted. But I think now with the good news that will recover.”
Looking at trends, he said demand is higher now for the eastern Mediterranean, Canaries and Balearics, and consumers are spending more with longer durations or trading up with higher quality accommodation.