Meeson said despite "decisive action" by Jet2, which he said had allowed the group to "respond swiftly" once travel restrictions were lifted and consumer confidence began to recover, the airline and operator had been let down by an "inexcusable" lack of resilience on the part of UK airports.
"Broadly, most of our 10 UK base airports have been woefully ill-prepared and poorly resourced for the volume of customers they could reasonably expect, as have other suppliers, such as onboard caterers and providers of airport PRM (passengers with reduced mobility) services," said Meeson.
"[This is] inexcusable, bearing in mind our flights have been on sale for many months and our load factors are quite normal. Theirs and the ground handling suppliers’ often atrocious customer service, long queues for security search, lack of staff and congestion in baggage handling areas, and the consequent airport congestion, together with the frequent lack of onboard catering supplies, have each contributed to a very much poorer experience at the start and finish of our customers’ holidays than they were entitled to expect.
"Inevitably, these customer-facing challenges have put extra pressure on our colleagues, both in the UK, onboard our aircraft, and in our holiday destinations. This difficult return to normal operations has occurred simply because of the lack of planning, preparedness and unwillingness to invest by many airports and associated suppliers."
In the UK, Jet2 operates from Belfast International, Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds-Bradford, Stansted, Manchester and Newcastle airports. Cirium data reveals Jet2.com cancelled just 11 of its 5,740 scheduled departures in June, a rate of 0.19%. This compares with easyJet’s 742 cancellations at a rate of 4.61% and British Airways’ 295 (2.90%).
Meeson conceded that in April 2020, it was hard to comprehend a scenario where the leisure travel industry would suffer "such a prolonged period of extraordinary financial and operational challenges", adding the group’s emergence from Covid was largely down to the efforts of its staff. "The Covid-19 pandemic and its far-reaching consequences have tested us all," he said.
His comments came as Jet2 plc revealed its full-year results, reporting a reduced full-year (year to 31 March 2022) group operating loss of £323.9 million, down 4% from £336.1 million in 2020/21. Group loss before foreign exchange revaluation and taxation increased by 1% from £373.8 million to £376.2 million.
"I want to record the board’s huge appreciation for all our colleagues’ tremendous support and efforts over recent months, which have enabled Jet2.com and Jet2holidays to take our customers on their holidays," said Meeson.
"This has been achieved despite the currently very challenging airport, onboard and in-destination working environments, which have been exacerbated by many of our suppliers’ failure to adequately plan and resource for the post-Covid operational start up," Meeson continued.
"As a result, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays management colleagues have worked hard to fully involve themselves in our operations and to ensure our colleagues are supported, encouraged, rewarded and properly appreciated. In this respect, we are very pleased to have awarded all our colleagues a total pay increase of 8%, with a further £1,000 to be paid to all colleagues at the end of summer 2022.
"We sincerely thank all our colleagues for the support they have given and are giving our company and our customers at this, regrettably, very challenging time."
