Leisure airline Jet2 returned to profit in the FY ending March 2023 with a pre-tax profit of £371 million from a £388.8m loss in 2021-2022. The airline posted an increase in revenue from £1.23 billion to £5.03bn and was 40% up on the £3.58bn in the pre-pandemic year of 2019-2020. Pre-tax profit increased 142% from £153.2m in 2019-2020.
The rebound in consumer confidence to travel helped to significantly improve financial performance as Group profit before FX revaluation and taxation increased to £390.8m† (2022: £376.2m loss†) which was 48% higher than the pre-Covid financial year ended 31 March 2020 reporting period.
Commenting on the results, Executive chairman Philip Meeson said: “The conclusion of the Covid-19 pandemic had unleashed an enormous surge of pent-up demand. The resumption of international travel in early 2022 resulted in the group's financial performance for the year ended March 31, 2023 exceeding our pre-pandemic performance for the year ended March 31, 2020.”
On the operational side flew a total of 16.2 million passengers recording an increase of 233% from 4.85 million reported in 2021-22. The carrier also saw a proportional increase in package holiday customers, with this figure rising to 64.9% of its traffic.
"The positive progress reflects the decisions made in late 2021 to retain over 8,000 loyal colleagues throughout the pandemic, recruiting and training in good time for summer 2022, making early and substantial marketing investments and giving meaningful salary increases to all colleagues. It also demonstrates the robust and sustainable nature of our business model," Meeson added.
In order to support the demand, Jet2 increased its full-year capacity to 17.93 million seats. This proved to be a sustainable increase, as the carrier ended up recording an overall average load factor of 90.5% for the FY 2022-23. This represented an increase of more than 20% compared to FY 2022-23 when the figure was 69.2%.
Going ahead, Jet2 has 15.9 million seats on sale, about 7.5% higher than last summer. The airline anticipates this as a pathway to build another strong set of full-year financial results for FY 2023-24.
In March the group took delivery of the first of its 98 ordered Airbus A321/A320neo aircraft, which could eventually extend up to 146 aircraft. It has recently announced plans to start operations from Liverpool John Lennon Airport from March next year as group's 11th UK base.