The operator said it was “celebrating the start of its biggest ever summer with independent travel agents by slashing prices across all summer 2024 holidays booked with an agency partner”.

The move comes just a fortnight after Jet2, in a trading update, said pricing “has been more competitive, particularly for April and May departures”, although it also stressed load factors were just above summer 2023 with “modest” price increases.

The operator said the offers applied to 60 destinations, with a range of hotel grades from two to five star, plus its villa programme.

A Jet2 spokesperson told TTG it had given independent agents a slight advantage in its discounting: “When it comes to direct sales, we are offering £50 off per person on May and June holidays,” they confirmed, albeit while adding: “Customers with a MyJet2 account will get £60 off per person.”

They continued: “On top of this, all summer 2024 holidays have had prices cut too. People want to get away, and we’re giving them that extra incentive.”

Jet2 turned heads in October when it added 850,000 seats to its Atol, raising questions over excess capacity and pricing in the mainstream market this summer.

However, a brief examination shows no ultra-low pricing, with few late sales under £300pp. EasyJet holidays shows modest discounts this month, while in contrast, some Tui late deals for May show discounts of 50% or more on higher priced packages.

Alan Cross, Jet2holidays’ director of travel agent relationships, said: “We are gearing up to the biggest summer in our history, and we want to ramp up the excitement by giving holidaymakers the chance to book their place in the sun via an independent travel agent for even less.

“Based on bookings, it is very clear that people have had enough of the rain, wind and cold, and they want to swap that for some much-needed sunshine.”

Agents on Wednesday gave TTG their take on the move. Travel Village Group’s Phil Nuttall said: “There’s definitely been a bit of softening in the market and capacity needs to be filled. It’s not dissimilar to the cruise industry in terms of ex-UK cruises. 

“I predicted this would happen in December at our conference. I said there would be a strong lates market this year, and I’ve not seen anything to change my mind. This move from Jet2 just reaffirms it.”

However, he added pricing remained strong despite increased capacity: “There is a lot of good revenue being driven for 2024 holidays,” he said. “We 100% support our tour operator partners. Let’s get these people booked and fill this capacity.”

Price cutting by operators raises issues about switch-selling for agents. Beverley Travel’s Kelly Cheesman said she tried to avoid discounting, but added: “If a customer comes in with something they have seen – for example a Jet2 holiday – we will do a Jet2 price match. But other than that, we really don’t do it. 

“All operators discount at different times on different things, so generally I think it evens it out.”

Thorne Travel’s Christiane McCorgray said discounting by operators was hurting margins “a little bit”.

“We’ve been using Newmarket [Holidays] a lot because they’re offering packages with price parity where you can add tours into them,” she said. “I think this is the current climate we’re in, and it’s the same for most people.

“Yesterday, I had to switch sell somebody who wanted to go to Lloret de Mar. I’ve changed them to Salou and managed to get them booked in without discounting.”

Henbury Travel’s Richard Slater said Jet2’s price cuts were “good news for customers booking with independent travel agents”.

“They will help families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis,” he said. “Having said that, as an agency, we are ahead with summer by around 23% compared with last year, which was a good one.

“Some operators we book are down by 10%-plus, and some are up, but we have more choice in operators this year, which allows choice for us and the client.
 
“Unlike a website, agents are significantly better at upselling the booking.”