Jet2 plunges as airline Covid woes soar

LOSSES in the aviation industry are soaring. Today it was the turn of Jet2 to reveal that it plunged to a £69 million loss for the half year, compared to a profit of £279 million last time.

Last week Easyjet recorded a £1.3 billion deficit, taking the total Covid related losses endured by UK listed airlines to £7 billion.

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.”

The shares fell 38p to 1345p.

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

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.