Jet2.com and Jet2holidays
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will reveal details of its 2024/25 financial year on 9 July, a result eagerly awaited by staff, with their bonus and profit share schemes depending on it.
A late-April trading update forecast a profit for the year to 31 March 2025 of £565-£570 million, up around 9%, excluding a £10 million bonus from the sale of Jet2.com’s Boeing 757 fleet, so staff should have something to look forward to.
Looking ahead, Jet2 has – in contrast to Tui and easyJet – been more cautious in its forecast for the current financial year. It noted a continued late booking profile, “which limits forward visibility”, and said it could not give a profit forecast for 2025/26 yet.
Jet2's summer 2025 capacity has increased by 8.3% on 2024, with new bases at Bournemouth and Luton airports accounting for about half of this. Jet2holidays package prices were showing “modest” increases and flight-only “slight” rises.
Jet2 said it was “over 95% hedged” for fuel and foreign exchange for the summer and “over 80%” for the full financial year, so it is insulated against any external shocks.
Chief executive Steve Heapy said he was “satisfied” with summer 2025 progress so far, but added the later booking profile meant he was seeing more flight-only sales, which are less profitable than packages, than last year.
Looking further ahead to 2026, the operation at Luton airport, launched in April, will grow by 44%, bringing 620,000 seats to the London area.
Tui
The late Easter dented Tui’s figures in the January to March period, although it also mentioned “challenging” current trading conditions.
Tui Group reported a pre-tax loss of £174 million for these three months, saying the absence of Easter during this period had cost it 200,000 passengers and £27 million. As a consequence, losses for the quarter rose £15 million year on year.
The specific picture in the UK is less clear, as Tui only separates areas by regions. Tui’s Northern Region, which comprises the UK, Ireland and Nordic countries, reported underlying losses of £153 million, compared with the previous year’s deficit of £139 million.
Tui Group chief executive Sebastian Ebel said: "The environment was challenging. And the second half of the year will also remain demanding for the overall economy in Europe.”
One important market is Turkey, which Ebel warned was becoming “significantly” more expensive because of high inflation and would be strong in lates. He said he was working “hard” with hoteliers to secure good offers.
The bigger picture is nevertheless optimistic. Tui closed winter 2024/25 with bookings up 2% and average prices increased 4% due to “good last-minute business”, and is claiming a boost in market share.
Moreover, this summer will see Tui start to reap more from its dynamic packaging push, with new partner Ryanair bringing more city break business booked in conjunction with Tui hotels.
Initiatives like this means Tui has kept its previous forecast of a jump of 7% to 10% on 2024’s £1.1 billion full year profits, “driven in particular by expectations for summer 2025”.
EasyJet and easyJet holidays
EasyJet’s half year result, for the six months to 31 March 2025, saw the airline group deliver a £394 million loss before tax – £44 million deeper year-on-year, with the late Easter again largely to blame.
However, the star performer within this was easyJet holidays, which delivered a £44 million profit, a £13 million year-on-year increase.
Chief executive Kenton Jarvis said he was confident the package brand would contribute a quarter of easyJet’s “medium-term” target – meaning by around 2030 – of £1 billion profit before tax.
Jarvis highlighted a cautious approach to summer 2025 capacity growth of only 1%. Despite this small increase, he indicated fares could actually decrease this summer, with falling oil prices counterbalancing tight supply. Jarvis said he expected jet fuel prices to be down 8% this summer, while Iata puts the current fall at 15% year-on-year.
Currently, only 6% of easyJet passengers are package customers, so understandably, there are high expectations that this will increase. EasyJet holidays believes it can maintain the current growth of 25% a year, giving it a market share of 7% to 9%.
A new base at Southend, more aircraft at Birmingham and, from next year, a new three-aircraft base at Newcastle airport – easyJet’s 11th in the UK – will fuel more demand for the package subsidiary.
It was another upbeat assessment from easyJet, which said it was on target to achieve profits of around £703 million this year, compared with £610 million in 2024.
What TTG thinks
After the turmoil of Covid and the collapse of Thomas Cook, many would argue it’s good to see three strong brands forecasting healthy profits and bringing stability to the industry once again.
Jet2’s annual results in July won’t give us the full picture of the current summer’s trading; we will have to wait for a market update from Tui in September and easyJet’s full year result in November, but meanwhile, there are some clues as to how it’s going.
Tui is being cautious on the package side, while easyJet has only 1% more seats this summer, but Jet2 has increased capacity by 8%. Jet2 says around half of this increase is going to new bases, so that may not be as alarming as it sounds.
EasyJet pointed out a key factor in any airline and operator’s success, the price of fuel. The good news here is that it has fallen to around $85 a barrel, compared to late 2023, when it was nudging $140. That’s a big plus for consumers as well, with easyJet promising some keen pricing this summer.
If you’re an agent, that can only be a good thing.
