Taking questions from agents at the Jet2holidays conference in Paphos last week, chief executive Steve Heapy opened up on some of the airline and operator’s short-to-medium term planning.
Asked whether Jet2 might put capacity into Doncaster Sheffield were it to reopen, Heapy said: "We will go and have a look at Doncaster.
"We’ve not met them yet, they’ve only just appointed the airport operator. We get approached by airports all around the UK. So we’ll meet them and see what the opportunities are."
Last month, Doncaster Council said it had identified a preferred bidder to operate the airport, with a target of restarting commercial flights in spring 2026.
It has also secured funding from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority Board to "progress reinstatement activity and commercial negotiations".
Heapy said he hoped to see DSA reopen. "I really do hope for the region that Doncaster works. There have been various attempts to create a viable business there, and it’s not really worked.
"I know they’ve got a new injection of money that will hopefully make it viable. We will be meeting them in the near future."
However, Heapy stressed talks were no guarantee of a launch, revealing Jet2 was in discussion with Luton airport for eight years before last month announcing plans to make Luton its 13th base starting next April.
"Sometimes these things take a bit of time, but we’ll certainly have a look at it [DSA]."
Elsewhere, Heapy was pressed on whether Jet2 could stretch beyond its current short-haul network to mid-haul destinations like Cape Verde, which is currently operated by Tui and was launched last month by easyJet.
Egypt was another destination that come up in questioning, where both Tui and easyJet currently operate.
"Our aircraft can get there, and we’d be capable of doing it," said Heapy. "We’ve just started operating to Morocco, we’ve launched Pula and Porto, and there will be some others coming over the next few months.
"The destinations you refer to are on a list with other destinations we’re looking seriously at."
More to come...
However, Heapy said Jet2’s priority was putting more capacity into existing destinations and building up its new Liverpool, Bournemouth and Luton bases. Jet2 flights took off from Liverpool earlier this year, while Bournemouth is scheduled to launch in February 2025 and Luton in April 2025.
Heapy also said Egypt and Cape Verde – both around six-hour flights – were difficult from an operational perspective owing to restrictions on hours pilots can fly in a single day, meaning it would be tough to fly there and back the same day with the same crew.
"There’s another couple of product things in the pipeline, and you’ll see more destinations coming over the next few months as well," he added, not explicitly ruling out either Cape Verde or Egypt. Jet2 operated to Egypt prior to the Sharm El Sheikh flight ban.
