Britain’s Jet2 on track after strong summer

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) – British travel company Jet2 said it was on track to meet annual forecasts after it posted a jump in operating profit for the six months to the end of September, helped by ongoing strong demand for flights and holidays.

While Jet2’s British customer base has been hit by higher bills in the last two years, holiday companies and airlines have found consumers have not cut back on holidays.

Jet2 on Thursday stuck to guidance for group profit before currency revaluation and taxation to come in at between 480 million pounds and 520 million pounds ($598-$648 million) for the year to the end of March, helped by a particularly strong summer season.

For the first half, that measure of profit came in 32% higher than the previous period, after it took more people on holiday, and more of those opted for its higher-margin package holidays.

Jet2 cautioned that bookings for the current winter season, traditionally loss-making as fewer people travel, were “a little slower in recent weeks” but it added that pricing was robust and it remained confident about the overall market.

For next summer, it planned to raise capacity by 12%, and said bookings and pricing were “encouraging”.

Shares in Jet2 are up 18% in the year to date, valuing the company, which has a fleet of about 120 narrowbody jets, at 2.4 billion pounds.

($1 = 0.8025 pounds)