Jet2 hit by wildfires and flooding but profit soars

Travel company Jet2 has said it took a £14 million hit from the summer’s air traffic control chaos and wildfires and flooding on Greek islands.

But the business said it had seen a major jump in profit nonetheless, in part because of the higher amount it was able to make per customer.

It said on Thursday that the average price of a Jet2holiday package rose 11% to £855 in the six months to the end of September.

The business also saw its net ticket yield for customers only buying flights increase by 18% to a little over £124.

That helped the business’s pre-tax profit rise from £451 million to £661 million in the six-month period, Jet2 said.

The business told shareholders that the mix of the disruption to the National Air Traffic Services (Nats), wildfires on Rhodes which were largely blamed on climate change and flooding in Skiathos had cost it around £14 million of lost profitability.

Yet the problems do not seem to have put off customers from travelling next summer.

Jet2 has made more seats available and bookings for the summer ahead are slightly higher than they were at this point a year ago.

“We are pleased to have delivered another strong financial performance during the first half of the financial year, despite the well-publicised external challenges faced,” said chief executive Steve Heapy.

He added: “Our customer-first ethos runs deep throughout our company culture, with people, service, profits our guiding principles, and our commitment to an innovative, value-for-money product and exceptional customer service is unwavering.

“As a result, we remain confident that as a customer-focused and much-trusted holiday provider, our customers will continue to travel with us to the sun spots of the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and to European leisure cities.”