Jet2 PLC on Thursday reported a jump in half-year revenue and a swing to profit as passenger numbers surged.

The Leeds-based low-cost airline said revenue in the six months that ended on September 30 multiplied to £3.57 billion from £429.6 million the year before, a period that had been blighted by pandemic-related travel restrictions.

Jet2 swung to a pretax profit of £450.7 million from a loss of £205.8 million.

In response, the company reinstated an interim dividend of 3.0 pence.

Jet2 said seat capacity increased 14% against Summer 2019 and ‘buoyant customer demand resulted in the business achieving an average load factor of 90.7%, down from 93.1% in 2019’.

Higher margin Package Holiday customers mix of total departing passengers was 65.9%, up against Summer of 52.8%.

Jet2 said passenger numbers for the period surged to 11.2 million from just 1.5 million in 2021, with customers choosing the airline’s end-to-end package holiday product to 3.8 million, compared to just 440,000 in 2021.

Less positively, due to the broader disruption in the aviation sector in the mid-summer, Jet2 paid out delay and compensation costs in excess of £50.0 million.

Looking ahead, Jet2 warned that margins may come under pressure, due to input cost pressures from fuel, carbon, a stronger dollar, wage increases and investment. However, it said it is presently on track to exceed market expectations for profit before foreign exchange revaluation and taxation for its year ending March 31.

‘As is typical’ for the airline, Jet2 expects losses in the second half of the year due to its investments.

Shares were up 3.1% at 920.20 pence each on Thursday morning in London.

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