The first flights from Jet2’s newest UK base, its 13th, took off on Tuesday (1 April), with Jet2 poised to offer 17 destinations during its inaugural summer at Luton, including two exclusive routes to Girona and Verona, and eight during its first winter. Both seasons are on sale now.
It follows the launch earlier this year of its 12th UK base, Bournemouth, and means four of Jet2’s latest five base launches have now been in the south. Jet2.com and Jet2holidays chief executive Steve Heapy revealed to TTG the extent of the slot constraints that had slowed Jet2’s march south and ensured Gatwick remained off the table for now.
"We have been talking to them [Luton] for quite a long time actually over the years," Heapy said. "But we’ve not been able to start an operation before because of the slots – it’s a very busy airport, but last year, the slots became available and we felt confident enough to put a programme on sale. It will hopefully be a very successful operation."
Heapy said there had long been demand from customers and agents for Luton flights, and stressed he was hopeful there was scope for the airline and operator to grow its operation. "You’ve seen at other bases how we’ve grown when we started," he said.
"We very much hope to be able to expand in the future [at Luton]. We’ve got a track record of expanding quickly. We’ve got the aircraft to be able to do that with 146 Airbus A321s on order."
Heapy said he did not anticipate significant crossover with neighbouring Stansted, where Jet2 set up a base in 2017. "The two bases are pretty distinct," he continued. "People seem to be either Luton or Stansted, depending on where they live. You don’t get a lot of crossover from what we can see. I think this is a really good space for us because it brings in a whole new catchment area of people."
Heapy also hinted at there being some prior experience within the Jet2 workforce of the area that would help the base get up and running from both an operational and trade perspective.
"We’ve got some people who worked at Stansted that are now based here [Luton]. It means it’s not all new people working at Luton and we are able to stamp our own culture and identity on this with experienced people.
"We’ve got some very loyal travel agent partners around here too. Some haven’t done many bookings for us in the core Luton catchment area because, perhaps, not many people go to Stansted, but they’re very much enjoying working with us."
On Gatwick, Heapy said: "It’s very constrained at the moment. We launched in the south because we were pretty concentrated in the north – and it’s been good to expand, to have a nationwide footprint.
"Obviously, we keep an eye on what’s happening, but we’ve got one newish base and two new bases – Liverpool is in its second year, and we’ve got Bournemouth and Luton in their first years. There’s a lot to do in terms of nurturing those bases and making sure we grow over time."
‘We’re in a good place’
Earlier this year, new easyJet boss Kenton Jarvis said he would look to get easyJet into Heathrow should expansion there go ahead. Heapy, though, said he wasn’t preoccupied with any potential opportunities at Heathrow.
"I’d rather not waste mental energy thinking about that if the green light is ever given to Heathrow expansion," he said. "People have been pondering that sort of question for the past 30 years and got nowhere. I’ll wait until a positive announcement is being made and then think about it."
Heapy characterised sales for the summer as being "OK so far", adding he did not believe there was too much capacity in the market. "I think it’s about right," he said. "I’m not too worried. I think we’re in a good place as an industry and as a company."
On the current economic and geopolitical outlook, he added: "It’s always a concern in terms of what the government do, fiscal policies, the Budget, etc. We’ve got Donald Trump’s announcements tomorrow [Wednesday] on trade, but there’s not a lot you can do about it. You’ve just got to wait for the announcements and react accordingly.
"But I would very much hope there isn’t further demand management burdens placed on airlines, because I think everybody deserves to go on a holiday and I would very much hope that policies don’t keep pricing people out of the ability to take a holiday."
