Jet2’s parent company, Jet2 plc (previously Dart Group), has reported an group operating loss of £111.2m for the six months to the end of September 2020, compared to an operating profit of £361.5m a year-ago. The Group loss before foreign exchange revaluation and taxation was £130.9m compared to £347.1m in the 2019 period. The total loss for the period after taxation was £68.7m compared to a profit of £278.6m in 2019. Overall revenue decreased by 88% to £299.9m from £2.5bn in 2019.
The Group’s cash position, excluding customer deposits, at the half year end was £652.5m – an increase of 25% since 31 March 2020.
As well as £171.7 million gross proceeds raised from an equity placing plus the sale of the distribution & logistics business, Fowler Welch, for £98 million, Jet2 also completed the financing of six unencumbered mid-life aircraft raising proceeds of US$75m and secured £300 million from the Bank of England under the UK Government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF). Total cash balances were £1bn compared to £1.66bn in 2019.
Jet2 states that it continues to preserve cash and enhance liquidity to ensure it is best positioned for a return to operations in a stable financial position. The airline has made full use of the UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and furloughed up to 80% of its workforce, cancelled 12 summer-only third-party leased aircraft as well as deferred of non-critical capital expenditure and froze recruitment and discretionary spending.
Jet2.com flew a total of 0.99m (2019: 10.07m) single sector passengers in the half year, with Jet2holidays package holiday customers representing 57% (2019: 53%) of the overall mix of flown passengers at 0.30m customers (2019: 2.71m). The uncertainty created by the several changes in UK Government quarantine guidance resulted in an average load factor of 69.0% comparted to 93.1% in 2019.
In its interim report, Jet2 comments that although the positive news about a potential vaccine was “welcome”, it will continue with a cautious approach to summer 2021 even though its current seat capacity is “close to summer 2019 levels”.