Interesting how I was looking at all the various LCCs in the UK, and one thing that strikes me is how successful Jet2 has been in the last 10 years or so.
What has been the secret to it's quick rise to being a leading holiday carrier in the UK?
As far as I can see it doesn't do anything particularly different to other LCCs but seems to be on a constant expansion
As far as I am aware it was a Southern UK based cargo airline originally, that rebranded itself as friendly low fares for the North. Didn't Globespan try a similar model for Scotland that went horribly wrong?
Would be really interested in opinions
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- oldannyboy
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Re: What has been the secret to Jet2's success?
I presume part of Jet2's success lies in the fact that they have mostly devoted their mission to a part of the market that others have not tapped seriously in, and have done so with great commitment. They have developed Leeds into a mini-fortress, with lots of choice. They also offer a very dependable level of service, good customer care and upbeat, friendly crews.
Re: What has been the secret to Jet2's success?
I can think of lots of possible reasons why they have done so well;
-They had a first mover advantage in places like Manchester and Leeds-Bradford and got there before easyJet, Ryanair et al. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Manchester had a proper based LCC before Jet2? They built up the brand into a household name in these areas through promotion, advertising and word-of-mouth.
-They used an older owned fleet of 737s and 757s that are more expensive to operate, but don't have to be worked as intensely. They might be able to do two short flights a day to Alicante for instance and not lose as much money sat on the ground for the rest of the day. They don't have to fly half empty to Belfast at the end of the day like an easyJet A320 might do, and can do other types of profitable work like cargo, ad-hoc charters etc
-They've always tried to differentiate themselves and make themselves attractive to leisure passengers, and offered a decent baggage allowance, dependable customer service, allocated seating, pre-bookable meals etc from day one.
-A focus on what works well for them. They used to fly more city routes as I remember, even Manchester to Gatwick at one point. However, I think they've realised their niche is leisure passengers and they really drive the business through their subsidiary Jet2Holidays which offers full escorted tours. In that way they're actually more of a hybrid between a leisure charter airline and scheduled LCC. Many of the summer flights go out with mostly Jet2Holidays passengers.
-Steady growth. They haven't rushed to establish a presence in the South of England, but instead built up their markets with complimentary airports e.g. opening a Glasgow base after Edinburgh, and a Newcastle base after Leeds-Bradford, a Birmingham base after East Midlands.
-They had a first mover advantage in places like Manchester and Leeds-Bradford and got there before easyJet, Ryanair et al. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Manchester had a proper based LCC before Jet2? They built up the brand into a household name in these areas through promotion, advertising and word-of-mouth.
-They used an older owned fleet of 737s and 757s that are more expensive to operate, but don't have to be worked as intensely. They might be able to do two short flights a day to Alicante for instance and not lose as much money sat on the ground for the rest of the day. They don't have to fly half empty to Belfast at the end of the day like an easyJet A320 might do, and can do other types of profitable work like cargo, ad-hoc charters etc
-They've always tried to differentiate themselves and make themselves attractive to leisure passengers, and offered a decent baggage allowance, dependable customer service, allocated seating, pre-bookable meals etc from day one.
-A focus on what works well for them. They used to fly more city routes as I remember, even Manchester to Gatwick at one point. However, I think they've realised their niche is leisure passengers and they really drive the business through their subsidiary Jet2Holidays which offers full escorted tours. In that way they're actually more of a hybrid between a leisure charter airline and scheduled LCC. Many of the summer flights go out with mostly Jet2Holidays passengers.
-Steady growth. They haven't rushed to establish a presence in the South of England, but instead built up their markets with complimentary airports e.g. opening a Glasgow base after Edinburgh, and a Newcastle base after Leeds-Bradford, a Birmingham base after East Midlands.
"Freddie Laker may be at peace with his Maker, but he is persona non grata with IATA."- HRH Duke of Edinburgh
Re: What has been the secret to Jet2's success?
PresumingEd wrote:As far as I am aware it was a Southern UK based cargo airline originally, that rebranded itself as friendly low fares for the North. Didn't Globespan try a similar model for Scotland that went horribly wrong?
In my opinion Globespan went bonkers! They started up a lots of 'interesting' transatlantic routes before the last recession, routes like Liverpool to New York JFK or Glasgow to Toronto via Doncaster-Sheffield on old 757s and 767s! They suffered from lots of reliability problems and ended up doing silly things like flying across the pond on non-ETOPS 738s via Iceland or wherever. Sure, Jet2 have done New York, but only as Christmas specials.
Jet2 expanded into Scotland as a result of Globespan's demise.
"Freddie Laker may be at peace with his Maker, but he is persona non grata with IATA."- HRH Duke of Edinburgh
Re: What has been the secret to Jet2's success?
Jet 2 and Jet 2 Holidays are agent supportive and friendly, so they have a feed of thousands of travel professionals selling their services.
And I really hope they consider a MAN - LGW feeder service again.
And I really hope they consider a MAN - LGW feeder service again.
Re: What has been the secret to Jet2's success?
TC957 wrote:Jet 2 and Jet 2 Holidays are agent supportive and friendly, so they have a feed of thousands of travel professionals selling their services.
And I really hope they consider a MAN - LGW feeder service again.
Yes, they've always been willing to work with agents. Don't forget that lots of leisure airlines like Excel Airways, Viking, Flyjet etc have gone out of business and Jet2 has been in a position to take up their business.
"Freddie Laker may be at peace with his Maker, but he is persona non grata with IATA."- HRH Duke of Edinburgh
Re: What has been the secret to Jet2's success?
I think another thing with Jet2 is they have a very reliable, very economic fleet of aircraft. Whoever was in charge of sourcing the 757's and the 738's and later 733's did a very good job of picking good aircraft. There are plenty of examples of other airlines using newer aircraft having reliability issues. I think what has enabled Jet2 to grow so fast is they haven't changed their ethos since they started and it has a very loyal customer base and us northerners love familiarity, and you always get the same good service in comfortable well presented planes with Jet2. A final point is they started their holidays branch as the UK package holiday market was at rock bottom, and airlines such as MON and even TCX to and extent were trying to move towards more scheduled operations. Jet2 took advantage of this and were able to grow the holidays division in line with the steady pick up of the leisure market.
Re: What has been the secret to Jet2's success?
[quote="azz767"]I think another thing with Jet2 is they have a very reliable, very economic fleet of aircraft. Whoever was in charge of sourcing the 757's and the 738's and later 733's did a very good job of picking good aircraft.
I´ll second that one, well maintained Aussie Ansett Metal.
No matter what issues AN had, their 377´s were very well maintained. Good choice on the part of Jet2 and dirt cheap to aquire at the time. They served them well. Flew them just one, but also thought they were a real friendly bunch, although to be fair, not all was roses, they had a few very prominent tech issues over time and a load of bad press. But they learnt from that and made something of it, I´d fly them again.
I´ll second that one, well maintained Aussie Ansett Metal.
No matter what issues AN had, their 377´s were very well maintained. Good choice on the part of Jet2 and dirt cheap to aquire at the time. They served them well. Flew them just one, but also thought they were a real friendly bunch, although to be fair, not all was roses, they had a few very prominent tech issues over time and a load of bad press. But they learnt from that and made something of it, I´d fly them again.some you lose, others you can´t win!
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- oldannyboy
- Posts: 2601
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Re: What has been the secret to Jet2's success?
[
-They used an older owned fleet of 737s and 757s that are more expensive to operate, but don't have to be worked as intensely. They might be able to do two short flights a day to Alicante for instance and not lose as much money sat on the ground for the rest of the day. They don't have to fly half empty to Belfast at the end of the day like an easyJet A320 might do, and can do other types of profitable work like cargo, ad-hoc charters etc
-They've always tried to differentiate themselves and make themselves attractive to leisure passengers, and offered a decent baggage allowance, dependable customer service, allocated seating, pre-bookable meals etc from day one.
-A focus on what works well for them. They used to fly more city routes as I remember, even Manchester to Gatwick at one point. However, I think they've realised their niche is leisure passengers and they really drive the business through their subsidiary Jet2Holidays which offers full escorted tours. In that way they're actually more of a hybrid between a leisure charter airline and scheduled LCC. Many of the summer flights go out with mostly Jet2Holidays passengers.
-Steady growth. They haven't rushed to establish a presence in the South of England, but instead built up their markets with complimentary airports e.g. opening a Glasgow base after Edinburgh, and a Newcastle base after Leeds-Bradford, a Birmingham base after East Midlands.[/quote]
[/quote]
I think you've really nailed it!
-They had a first mover advantage in places like Manchester and Leeds-Bradford and got there before easyJet, Ryanair et al. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Manchester had a proper based LCC before Jet2? They built up the brand into a household name in these areas through promotion, advertising and word-of-mouth.quote]
-They used an older owned fleet of 737s and 757s that are more expensive to operate, but don't have to be worked as intensely. They might be able to do two short flights a day to Alicante for instance and not lose as much money sat on the ground for the rest of the day. They don't have to fly half empty to Belfast at the end of the day like an easyJet A320 might do, and can do other types of profitable work like cargo, ad-hoc charters etc
-They've always tried to differentiate themselves and make themselves attractive to leisure passengers, and offered a decent baggage allowance, dependable customer service, allocated seating, pre-bookable meals etc from day one.
-A focus on what works well for them. They used to fly more city routes as I remember, even Manchester to Gatwick at one point. However, I think they've realised their niche is leisure passengers and they really drive the business through their subsidiary Jet2Holidays which offers full escorted tours. In that way they're actually more of a hybrid between a leisure charter airline and scheduled LCC. Many of the summer flights go out with mostly Jet2Holidays passengers.
-Steady growth. They haven't rushed to establish a presence in the South of England, but instead built up their markets with complimentary airports e.g. opening a Glasgow base after Edinburgh, and a Newcastle base after Leeds-Bradford, a Birmingham base after East Midlands.[/quote]
[/quote]
I think you've really nailed it!
Re: What has been the secret to Jet2's success?
Their planes used to make money during the night too with the Royal Mail contract.no other LCC had this advantage at their start up.
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