Jet2 CEO Steve Heapy has dismissed concerns voiced by TUI UK Managing Director Neil Swanson that operators have a lot of holidays left to sell this summer.
Talking to media last month, Neil said he was glad TUI hadn’t increased summer ’25 capacity, while Jet2holidays has added about 10% and easyJet holidays about 30%.
“There is a lot of capacity in the market. Everyone will sell what they’ve got to sell, but that will depress margins,” said Neil.
Speaking at the launch of Jet2’s first-ever flights from Luton on Tuesday, Steve said he wasn’t expecting over-capacity in the market to lead to a price war this summer.
“We added 9% capacity this year, but only 4% if you ignore our two new bases (at Bournemouth and Luton), which isn’t an awful lot, so I’ve got no complaints really, I’m pretty comfortable,” he said, adding that Jet2holidays has ‘about the same’ capacity to sell as this time last year.
“I am pretty comfortable with where we are, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be too different to last year,” added Steve. “We are similar to last year in terms of prices, though there has been some price inflation from hotels.”
Luton is Jet2’s 13th UK base, from where it is operating 36 flights a week to 17 destinations this summer.
Steve said summer ’26 will go on sale in the next couple of weeks, with an expanded programme from the London airport.
“It has been a very successful launch and I’m very much hoping our Luton programme will be bigger next year.” he added.
Jet2 isn’t looking to open any other UK bases currently, he said. “We have got a lot to do to make sure we are filling our aircraft from our newest bases at Luton, Bournemouth and Liverpool.”
