Jet2holidays, easyJet holidays and Loveholidays have all confirmed plans to increase the size of their Atols for next year.
The chief executives of the three companies – which comprise three of the five largest Atol holders – acknowledged plans to hike their package holiday capacity at a Travel Weekly Future of Travel conference in London.
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays chief executive Steve Heapy said the operator’s capacity would be about 6% higher next year. It is currently licenced to carry 6.7 million passengers a year.
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The operator increased capacity for this winter by 15%, although Heapy stressed the winter programme was a “small part of the overall capacity”.
Loveholidays chief executive Donat Retif said the OTA’s capacity would increase by 30% next year across its business, which includes the UK, Ireland, Germany and Austria, and from February 2025, The Netherlands.
Loveholidays is currently licenced to carry four million passengers, and has previously stated a plan to become Europe’s “number-one package holiday provider.”
EasyJet holidays chief executive Garry Wilson also committed to additional capacity in 2025 but stressed the operator was focused on sustainable growth. Under its current Atol it is licenced for passenger carryings of 2.2 million.
“We [easyJet holidays] are only 7% of the airline [easyJet.com] capacity so the ability to grow is pretty big. There is no point in chasing numbers, it’s got to be sustainable, but absolutely we will grow,” he said.
The current top five Atol holders, following the last set of renewals in April this year, are: Jet2holidays (6.7 million), Tui (5.8 million), Loveholidays (4 million), Booking.com (2.3 million) and easyJet Holidays (2.2 million).