Jet2 plc publishes its Annual Report for 2024, revenue of 24%

Group Revenue of Jet2 increased by 24% to £6,255.3m (2023: £5,033.5m). Group profit before FX revaluation and taxation increased by 33% to £520.1m (2023: £390.8m) and Group profit before taxation increased by 43% to £529.5m (2023: £371.0m).

A strong balance sheet and ample liquidity are important attributes in this industry, given its nature and capital intensity. As at 31 March 2024, our cash and money market deposits totalled £3,184.7m (2023: £2,624.7m) with airline’s‘Own Cash’ balance increasing to £1,331.4m (2023: £1,127.1m). Net cash, stated after borrowings and lease liabilities increased by 38% to £1,729.3m (2023: £1,249.7m).

This financial capacity not only prepares us for increasing gross capital expenditure (which is expected to approach £5.0bn over the coming six years) and debt repayment commitments, but also provides a solid foundation for those opportunities and challenges that the current and future macro-economic environments may present.

Basic earnings per share increased 37% to 185.9p (2023: 135.4p).

Results for the financial year

“We are very pleased to have been able to report another year of strong financial results as our Leisure Travel business delivered an improvement in Group Revenue of 24% to £6,255.3m (2023: £5,033.5m) and an increase in Group profit before FX and taxation of 33% to £520.1m† (2023: £390.8m).” says Steve Heapy, Chief Executive Officer.

‘These results underlined the popularity, resilience and flexibility of our holiday products and also our leading brand position, as despite the continuing inflationary pressures, millions of UK customers still chose to prioritise their disposable income for a rejuvenating and relaxing Jet2 holiday! For the reporting period, seat capacity increased 10% to 19.73m. Although customer bookings were closer to departure, the business achieved a healthy average load factor of 89.8% (2023: 90.5%) with growth in average pricing for both our leisure travel products robust. Higher margin per passenger Package Holiday customers grew 15% to 6.08m (2023: 5.29m) and were a materially higher mix of total departing passengers at 68.3% (2023: 64.9%), with Flight-only passengers reducing by 1% to 5.61m (2023: 5.69m).

The Group commits considerable investment in order to be well prepared for its summer operations and Summer 2023 was no different, as we welcomed over 2,500 new Colleagues bringing the total number to over 15,000 at peak summer flying activity.

Although the widespread aviation sector disruption experienced in Summer 2022 was not repeated, as always, we anticipated that there would be unpredictable challenges posed by the external operating environment. As a Customer First organisation, this means investing to embed sufficient resilience into our operations, including but not limited to, standby aircraft and crews, generous amounts of in-resort customer helpers, plus responsive ‘go teams’ in the event of unforeseen developments.

This proactive approach enabled us to effectively navigate Summer 2023 events such as Rhodes (wildfires) and Skiathos (flooding), the technological systems failure at NATS, together with the record number of air traffic control strikes across Europe and mitigate the impact on our Customers.”

Outlook

Summer 2024 on sale seat capacity is currently 12.3% higher than Summer 2023 at 17.16m seats. Booked to date Package Holiday customers are up by 7%, representing 72% of overall flown
passengers, with Flight-Only passengers increasing by 16%. Consequently average load factor is currently 73.4% (2023: 75.2%). Passengers are currently booking much closer to departure and therefore, pricing for our flight-only and package holiday products must remain attractive.

“Summer 2024 pricing to date for both products is showing a modest increase, helping to offset in part previously announced input cost increases. As ever, we remain mindful of the current macroeconomic and geo-political environments and how these may influence future consumer spending patterns.” said Steve Heapy.

“However, we continue to believe that the end-to-end package holiday is a resilient and popular product which remains high on the priority list for our Customers, even during uncertain economic times. Year to date the business is trading in line with management’s expectations but given the very late booking profile and the peak summer months of July, August and September not yet complete, plus the majority of Winter 2024/2025 seat capacity still to sell, it remains premature as is always the case at this time of year, to provide definitive guidance as to Group profitability for the financial year ending 31 March 2025.

For the long term, our strategy remains consistent – To be the UK’s Leading and Best Leisure Travel business – with People, Service, Profits serving as our guiding principles. With our differentiated and attractive end-toend product, breadth of hotel choice and flexibility of duration, plus our consistently high quality Customer First approach, we are confident that customers will continue to travel with us from our Rainy Island to the sun spots of the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and to European Leisure Cities.”

The article Jet2 plc publishes its Annual Report for 2024, revenue of 24% first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.