Jet2 predicts loss of £383m this year

Omicron variant ‘served to dampen customer confidence’, says travel company

A Jet2 Boeing 737 touches down at Manchester Airport (Getty Images)

Jet2, the UK’s second largest travel group, is projecting that it has lost between £378m and £383m in the past year.

Although things are now looking up for travel - as restrictions ease and demand for holidays subsequently surges - the airline and tour operator was hit by the Omicron variant and accompanying international travel bans this winter.

This “served to dampen customer confidence”, the company said in its latest trading update for the year to 31 March, which shows it as having total cash of £2.23bn with an ‘own cash’ balance – excluding advance customer deposits – of £1.08bn.

However, the company is “confident” that “opportunities for financially strong, resilient and trusted operators will only increase”.

The relaxing of previously strict entry rules, both in the UK and abroad, is leading to an increase in bookings for both flights and package holidays – the latter representing a “materially higher” percentage of total bookings for this summer, up 12 per cent from 2019.

Jet2 said capacity for summer 2022 is up 14 per cent from pre-pandemic and that bookings are “encouraging”.

The company said in its report: “Pleasingly, progressive relaxation of UK travel restrictions in early 2022 – firstly, with the removal of pre-departure tests for vaccinated people travelling to the UK; and subsequently no longer having to take a post-arrival lateral flow test – resulted in bookings increasing materially with average load factors for February and March 2022 approaching seasonal norms as customer confidence in travelling internationally rallied.”

It comes amid a week of chaotic scenes at UK airports, as both easyJet and British Airways were forced to cancel hundreds of flights due to staff shortages.

BA’s flight cancellations on Friday 8 April totalled 68, while easyJet’s numbered 42.