Holiday and airline firm Jet2 reports £111 million LOSS due to Covid

Jet2 has today revealed operating losses of £111.2 million as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the crippled aviation industry. 

The cash-strapped holiday and airline group faces a battle for survival after slumping to a first half loss, and said it remains cautious over the summer 2021 season despite the prospect of a vaccine.

The Jet2holidays and Jet2.com owner – formerly called Dart Group – reported operating losses of £111.2 million for the six months to September 30, against earnings of £361.5 million a year earlier.

The carrier fell to a £68.7 million pre-tax loss from profits of £278.6 million a year ago.

It is the latest blow in the bloodbath consuming airlines in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.   

This comes after rival easyJet revealed the first ever full-year loss in its 25-year history this week, as the crisis sent it nosediving into the red by £1.27 billion. 

Heathrow Airport’s boss has previously warned that quarantine restrictions were ‘strangling the UK economy’ and costing jobs ‘every day’ – before England’s second lockdown dealt another blow to the industry.

In what would normally be its busiest period, the airline flew just 990,000 passengers in the half-year, down from 10.07 million a year earlier as plunging demand and restrictions amid the pandemic crippled the aviation sector.

Package holiday passengers slumped to 30,000, down from 2.7 million a year ago.

Jet2 warned over further losses in the traditionally quieter half of the financial year and cautioned it expects to slash its winter 2020-21 services by half year-on-year.

Philip Meeson, executive chairman of Jet2, said: ‘Whilst the recent positive news about a potential vaccine was welcome, we continue our cautious approach to summer 2021.’

But he added current seat capacity is close to summer 2019 levels at this stage. Shares in the group fell 3%.

Luton-based carrier easyJet has already warned it expects to fly no more than around 20% of planned services in its current quarter.

Leeds-based Jet2 restarted its flight services in mid-July after the spring lockdown, having originally hoped to resume them in May.

It is axing more than 100 pilots in response to the impact on its services.

The group said it concentrated flights over the summer on financially viable routes, but had to redirect away from mainland Spain, the Canary Islands and the Balearics in late July due to quarantine measures.

It then refocused its holiday programme on eastern Mediterranean destinations.

But it has since been curtailed by the second English lockdown and said its ‘ability to fly in the short-term remains uncertain’ with restrictions in place until at least December 2.

At the weekend, bosses at two of Britain’s biggest airlines last night piled pressure on the Government to get passengers flying again as soon as lockdown ends – and fuel an economic recovery.

New British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle and Virgin Atlantic boss Shai Weiss called for passengers to be tested for Covid before leaving the UK rather than being quarantined for 14 days when returning.

They want the Government to rubber-stamp a new system where passengers take a ‘gold-standard’ PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test 72 hours before departure – followed by self-isolation.

Passengers would take a second, more rapid test when they arrived at the airport. Those who tested negative could travel without quarantine restrictions.

The PCR test costs about £120 but it is hoped this will fall in the future. The quarantine time for passengers arriving in the UK is expected to be cut from 14 days to seven days next month in an announcement expected as soon as this week.