Jet2, the UK’s largest leisure airline and integrated travel company, has posted preliminary results for 2024 showing the group made an impressive profit of £520.1m ($660m) in the year ending March 31, 2024. This figure represents an increase of 33% over the previous year’s figure of £390.8m ($496.3) as the carrier continues to grow, enter new markets, and open new operating bases.
The 2024 figures also showed that the company saw revenues rise by 24% during the year to £6.2bn ($7.9bn), helped in part by the introduction of more fuel-efficient Airbus A321neos into the carrier’s fleet. Passenger numbers grew by 9% reaching 17.72m, compared to 16.22m carried in the year ending March 2023.
For the reporting period, while the business achieved an average load factor of 89.8%, a slight decrease from 90.5%, seat capacity increased by 10% to 19.73m available seat kilometers (ASKs) representing healthy year-on-year growth.
According to a Jet2 statement, the margin per passenger on its package holiday (inclusive tour holidays) grew by 15% to 6.08m, compared to 5.29m in 2023. These passengers represented 68.3% of total passengers carried (versus 64.9% in 2023), with flight-only passengers reducing slightly by 1% to 5.61m (against 5.69m in 2023).
Jet2’s 2024 figures were boosted by the opening of a new base at Liverpool-John Lennon Airport (LPL) in the UK, with the airline also planning to open a further significant new base at Bournemouth Airport (BOH) in the south of England in 2025.
In fact, on July 12, 2024, the company said it would be bringing forward the opening of this Bournemouth base by two months from April 1, 2025, to February 4, 2025, to meet unprecedented early demand and to capitalize on the late winter sun getaway market from the UK to the Canary Islands.
These new services will run all year round, and from April 2025 the companies’ first-ever full-scale summer program from Bournemouth Airport will also commence, with 16 destinations across Europe, the Canary Islands, and the Mediterranean being served by 27 weekly flights by an initial fleet of two-based aircraft.
Thanks to the impressive results for 2024, the company also announced that it has exercised its remaining options for Airbus A321neo aircraft into firm orders with a full schedule now set in place until 2035. This equates to a further 146 aircraft joining the fleet between 2024 and 2035. The new additions are earmarked to allow the carrier to expand further while also providing capacity for older less-efficient aircraft in the fleet to be phased out.
According to ch-aviation, the carrier currently operates a fleet of 126 aircraft. This is comprised of five A321s, eight A321neos, two A330-300s, seven Boeing 737-300s, 98 737-800s, and six 757-200s.
What does Jet2 say?
“We are very pleased to have been able to report another year of strong financial results as our Leisure Travel business delivered an improvement in Group Revenue of 24% to £6,255.3m (2023: £5,033.5m) and an increase in Group profit before FX revaluation and taxation of 33% to £520.1m† (2023: £390.8m),” said Jet2’s CEO Steve Heapy.
“These results underlined the popularity, resilience, and flexibility of our holiday products and also our leading brand position, as despite the continuing inflationary pressures, millions of UK customers still chose to prioritize their disposable income for a rejuvenating and relaxing Jet2 holiday!”
He added: “The Group commits considerable investment to be well prepared for its summer operations and Summer 2023 was no different, as we welcomed over 2,500 new Colleagues bringing the total number to over 15,000 at peak summer flying activity.”
With strong summer 2024 forward bookings and further growth forecast, all eyes will be on Jet2 over the coming months to see just how well it can capitalize on the momentum it has built for inclusive tour holidays from the UK, following a period of several years where seat-only holidays had become far more dominant.