Jet2 losses widen in first half

Jet2 reported a widening of its interim losses on Thursday due to the Covid restrictions imposed on the travel industry and the government’s traffic light system, as it warned of further losses for the second half.

In the six months to 30 September, pre-tax losses widened to £205.8m from £119.3m the year before, even as revenue grew 43% to £429.6m.

Although seat capacity for the period rose 86% to 2.68m, the average load factor - which measures how full the planes are - fell to 57.3% from 69% in 2020. Jet2 said load factors to amber destinations were more than 20 percentage points lower than those for green destinations, as customers were anxious they could quickly be changed to red, meaning enforced quarantine on return to the UK.

The airline said the first three months of the year saw little change in the "significant" challenges facing the industry, with no scheduled flying activity from 1 April to 24 June.

"Although the government's decision to allow quarantine-free travel to amber list destinations for those fully vaccinated from 19 July 2021 was a welcome step in the right direction, the limited number of green destinations and fragile consumer confidence arising from the three-weekly government traffic light reviews undertaken throughout the period, meant that customer bookings were significantly closer to departure than normal," it said.

Jet2 also warned of further losses in the second half. It cited the competitive pricing environment being experienced for Winter 21/22, and the necessary investment in its operations in readiness for its flying programme expansion in the Summer 2022 season.

At 1040 GMT, the shares were down 5.1% at 1,133.80p.