Jet2 hit by wildfires and flooding but profit soars
The airline said that the average price of one of its package holidays increased by around £85.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.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.”