Agents faced long waits for their calls to be answered during peaks due to a lack of staff and unexpectedly high call volume said Jet2 boss Steve Heapy, speaking at the Jet2holidays VIP conference in Antalya (November 26-29).

“We cocked up a bit and I do apologise for that,” said Heapy, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays chief executive. “We had some issues with our resource planning team. I can assure you we are on top of it now and it is fixed. But I do apologise for the issues you had.”

Heapy said the problem was two-fold: firstly, the operator started the year with less staff than required and faced “challenges” recruiting people. “Secondly, and it’s a bit of a double-edged sword, we had a lot more calls than we expected,” said Heapy.

“The wait times increased quite considerably and some of you guys experienced long waits on the phone. This was extremely disappointing, annoying and upsetting for us all as we have always prided ourselves on our call centre and the fact we answer calls very quickly.”

Jet2holidays, said Heapy, has an internal target whereby it answers every sales call within 80 seconds and every after sales call within three minutes.

Heapy said he was “personally involved” in fixing the problem, explaining the operator had recruited more staff across its Leeds, Manchester and Palma call centres, and extended its homeworking team.

“The issues are fixed,” he told delegates. “You will not wait a long time for your calls in January or at any time.”

Heapy said Jet2 would continue to invest in its call centre operation beyond adding staff and upgrading its phone system. “We are looking to set up more call centres,” said Heapy.

“I will be sat in a call centre in January, not in my office, at a desk in the call centre and I’ll be there making sure we’re answering the phones, that everyone’s on the ball, and everyone’s providing the best service to you guys,” he added.