In January, the airline and operator – now the UK’s largest Atol holder – predicted pre-tax group profit of somewhere in the region of £370 million to £385 million. However, it has now revised this up to a pre-tax group profit outlook of £387 million to £392 million for the year to 31 March 2023.
The group will make a preliminary full-year results announcement in early July, at which point it has promised a deeper dive into the outlook for summer 2023.
Looking ahead, the group has in excess of 7% more seats on sale for summer 2023 – 15.26 million – than it did in summer 2022, and more of these seats are being occupied by more lucrative package holiday customers.
"Forward bookings to date remain encouraging, with the mix of package holiday customers representing just over 75% of total departing passengers," said Jet2 in a trading update issued on Thursday morning (20 April).
This is five percentage points higher than it was at the same stage last year looking ahead to summer 2022.
Average summer 2023 load factors are also running 0.7 percentage points ahead of summer 2022.
Jet2 said pricing "remained strong" with "encouraging" margins per booked passenger, despite a range of input cost pressures which include fuel pricing, carbon taxation, the strength of the US dollar versus the pound, with many package elements – such as air fuel – paid for in dollars rather than pounds, and wage increases.
The group said investment ahead of the summer season stood the airline and operator in good stead and would likely shield its operation from the same adversity other carriers and package operators suffered last summer following the post-Covid restart.
Earlier this year, Jet2 confirmed it was bringing ground handling in-house at a further two of its UK bases – Bristol and Newcastle – meaning it now self-handles at seven of its 10 bases. "[We] are therefore not reliant on third parties for these aspects of our operations," said Jet2.
The group added: "In summary, we are pleased with the current position, but with the new financial year having only recently commenced, the continued threat of summer European air traffic control disruption, and [with] over 40% of the summer 2023 season plus the majority of winter 2023/24 still to sell, it is too early to provide definitive guidance as to group profitability for the financial year."
Jet2’s total cash position as of 31 March was £2.62 billion, while its own cash balance – which excludes customer deposits – stood at £1.12 billion.
