The airline and operator will base five aircraft at Gatwick next summer, with a sixth aircraft based overseas also serving the airport. Jet2's first flight will take off from Gatwick on 26 March 2026 becoming its 14th UK base.
In a half-year trading update, issued on Wednesday (19 November), Jet2 said going into Gatwick, which it says has a catchment of nearly 15 million people who can access the airport by road or rail within 60 minutes, would "materially expand its addressable market".
"[Gatwick] has become the UK's leading airport for beach holidays and city breaks, with more short- and mid-haul beach holiday departures than any other UK airport," said Jet2. "The opening of our new base at London Gatwick provides us with a unique opportunity to extend Jet2's footprint and attract new customers."
Jet2's decision to seize on slot availability at Gatwick is also with an on the future. "Looking further ahead, this development also provides Jet2 with a strong strategic foothold to benefit from future expansion at London Gatwick, including the potential introduction of a second runway," it said.
In September, transport secretary Heidi Alexander gave Gatwick the go-ahead to bring its standby runway into routine use for departing short-haul flights, which could grow the airport's passenger numbers to 80 million a year.
Speaking to TTG last week, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays chief executive Steve Heapy insisted the firm would be able to compete on price with other carriers based at Gatwick, stressing he believed their would be sufficient demand to go around.
After several successive years of Atol growth, Jet2 last month opted to freeze its licence at just over seven million passengers for the year to the end of September 2026.
Laying out its capacity plans in more detail, Jet2 said capacity growth for summer 2026 would be "primarily focused" at Gatwick where it is putting more than 900,000 seats on sale.
Weighing the current economic climate against people's clamour for holidays, the airline and operator characterised planned growth across its 13 other UK bases for the year ahead of 3.9% as "disciplined".
Jet2 has just over 20 million seats on sale for summer 2026, 8.9% more than summer 2025 and 61% more than pre-pandemic (summer 2019). It said bookings, at this stage, were "in line with management expectations".
Ahead of last week's Gatwick base announcement, Jet2 cautioned going into Gatwick would require "a meaningful step-up in short-term investment" and does not expect the base to become profitable until its 2029 full-year.
However, in Wednesday's trading update, Jet2 said its "strong balance sheet and ample liquidity" had allowed it to "confidently pursue" its growth ambitions via a base at Gatwick.
"We know that meaningful start-up investment will be required to provide a solid operational platform which, over time, will enable us to fully capitalise on the scale of the opportunity," it added.
