"UK budget carrier Jet2 is to open a new base at London Stansted, with initial services commencing in spring next year.

Jet2 parent Dart Group has disclosed the plan ahead of the company’s annual general meeting.

The airline has previously focused on the northern and central UK, with services from cities including Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast. It recently unveiled plans for a Birmingham base.

It has not detailed specific network plans for London Stansted, which will bring to nine the number of UK bases for the carrier.

But Dart Group chairman Philip Meeson will tell the meeting that Stansted has “great potential” for its holiday business.

It has cautioned, however, that the opening of the London and Birmingham bases will require “significant” investment in the second half of this year and that – while trading has been good this year – group operating profit is “likely” to fall “slightly behind” market expectations.

Summer leisure travel bookings have shown “no signs of slowdown” since July, the company states, and winter bookings are “satisfactory”.

“Demand for our higher-margin package holiday products continues to grow and, as a result, the number of package holiday customers, as a proportion of total departing customers, is also increasing,” it adds.

Yields and load factors are slightly lower than those reached last summer but Dart Group points out that it has increased capacity by 13%."

This follows Birmingham.

Source (subscription): http://dashboard.flightglobal.com/app/# ... newsstream

Good news. I like Jet2. They seem to be falling somewhere in between a LCC and the old traditional charter carriers. They provide all-inclusive packages of a decent quality, and they offer reliable friendly service.

I only fear that someone will not be happy about their bold move in their home turf though....

This was always going to be a project for LS to tackle.

They stay outside the London nightmare airports and within the loving embrace of MAG. The Manchester Airports Group and Jet2 have a solid relationship and LS is about to grow substantially at Manchester again, so no doubt a deal was done to bring them to STN and broaden MAG's client base there. As LS is now becoming predominantly a holiday carrier then there isn't even too much overlap with Ryanair and Easyjet. Jet2Holidays is now the third largest holiday provider in the UK.

I can see LS on the phone to Chicago in case there are any additional 738NG options and slots they can firm up.

oldannyboy wrote:

I only fear that someone will not be happy about their bold move in their home turf though....

I suspect that this 'someone' is FR. But they have just revealed that their focus in future will be on the EU. In a BBC interview broadcast on 8 September MOL said tht FR 'will pivot all our growth into the European Union'. This in relation to FR's plans following the Brexit vote. So to an extent LCC travel growth from STN is up for grabs.

vv701 wrote:

oldannyboy wrote:

I only fear that someone will not be happy about their bold move in their home turf though....

I suspect that this 'someone' is FR. But they have just revealed that their focus in future will be on the EU. In a BBC interview broadcast on 8 September MOL said tht FR 'will pivot all our growth into the European Union'. This in relation to FR's plans following the Brexit vote. So to an extent LCC travel growth from STN is up for grabs.[/

quote]

This is true. Brexit surely did not go down well with MoL and his pan-European vision of things I suspect...

I wish LS every success at STN. Competition is good, and much needed at the Essex port! Variety is also a welcome change..

Is this a smart move when you are just recently becoming more financially stable?

vv701 wrote:

oldannyboy wrote:

I only fear that someone will not be happy about their bold move in their home turf though....

I suspect that this 'someone' is FR. But they have just revealed that their focus in future will be on the EU. In a BBC interview broadcast on 8 September MOL said tht FR 'will pivot all our growth into the European Union'. This in relation to FR's plans following the Brexit vote. So to an extent LCC travel growth from STN is up for grabs.

despite this, in the last two days Ryanair have announced 10 new routes from Scotland. They must be confident we'll vote to go independent

nighthawk wrote:

vv701 wrote:

oldannyboy wrote:

I only fear that someone will not be happy about their bold move in their home turf though....

I suspect that this 'someone' is FR. But they have just revealed that their focus in future will be on the EU. In a BBC interview broadcast on 8 September MOL said tht FR 'will pivot all our growth into the European Union'. This in relation to FR's plans following the Brexit vote. So to an extent LCC travel growth from STN is up for grabs.

despite this, in the last two days Ryanair have announced 10 new routes from Scotland. They must be confident we'll vote to go independent

Not to mention today's announcement of more routes from LPL and a cabin crew recruitment drive soon. How much of this growth is being serviced from European bases or how much of this recruitment is to cover turnover of staff I do not know.

Back on topic - best of luck to Jet2 with their launch at STN.

oldannyboy wrote:

Good news. I like Jet2. They seem to be falling somewhere in between a LCC and the old traditional charter carriers. They provide all-inclusive packages of a decent quality, and they offer reliable friendly service.

I only fear that someone will not be happy about their bold move in their home turf though....

I actually think Jet2 can put up a better fight against Ryanair on holiday routes than easyJet can, thinking of EMA where EZY pulled out but LS has built up a substantial base from nothing. The key is of course Jet2Holidays and their product which is aimed directly at the needs of holidaymakers.

Jet2 are changing their model with new aircraft so they have to expand to maintain momentum and profitability. A base at STN, which is fairly underserved by other leisure operators and owned by MAG which LS is very cosy with, is a perfect choice IMO.

And about time!

I have never understood Jet2s 'Northern only' model. By any metric the southeast is the biggest market and all the other leisure operators like Monarch, Thomson and Thomas Cook serve all regions. The UK is not big enough to have airlines only operating in part of it (cue the BA 'London Airways' pundits).

Maybe one day we'll will see LS operate a service into it's ancestral home, Bournemouth (another MAG airport)

aviatorcraig wrote:

And about time!

I have never understood Jet2s 'Northern only' model. By any metric the southeast is the biggest market and all the other leisure operators like Monarch, Thomson and Thomas Cook serve all regions. The UK is not big enough to have airlines only operating in part of it (cue the BA 'London Airways' pundits).

Maybe one day we'll will see LS operate a service into it's ancestral home, Bournemouth (another MAG airport)

They had a stable business model catering to pensioners and factory workers looking to go on holiday. In this era that gravy train is over.

b747400erf wrote:

catering to pensioners and factory workers looking to go on holiday

Although it must be said that not everyone in Northern England works in a factory. I've flown with Jet2 about six times and I work in an office... . However, you're right they do tend to aim their product towards low and middle income people which works well for them. Plenty of them in Southern England too of course. Norwegian went to Gatwick with very low brand recognition and grown to the third largest operator, nothing to say that Jet2 can't do extremely well at Stansted with an ability to offer something that neither Ryanair nor easyJet can provide.

The problem they have is their seasonality and they have to increase utilisation as they move from flying the oldest 733s and 757s in the UK to a fleet of brand new 738s. There are of course options in low season, leasing to Canadian operators is quite common (e.g. Thomson has been doing this for years). However, we might see some more city routes.

I think almost every single flight they operate is leisure focused, one exception is Leeds-Bradford to Duesseldorf and Amsterdam which seem to carry a healthy amount of business traffic too.

eurowings wrote:

b747400erf wrote:

catering to pensioners and factory workers looking to go on holiday

Although it must be said that not everyone in Northern England works in a factory. I've flown with Jet2 about six times and I work in an office... . However, you're right they do tend to aim their product towards low and middle income people which works well for them. Plenty of them in Southern England too of course. Norwegian went to Gatwick with very low brand recognition and grown to the third largest operator, nothing to say that Jet2 can't do extremely well at Stansted with an ability to offer something that neither Ryanair nor easyJet can provide.

The problem they have is their seasonality and they have to increase utilisation as they move from flying the oldest 733s and 757s in the UK to a fleet of brand new 738s. There are of course options in low season, leasing to Canadian operators is quite common (e.g. Thomson has been doing this for years). However, we might see some more city routes.

I think almost every single flight they operate is leisure focused, one exception is Leeds-Bradford to Duesseldorf and Amsterdam which seem to carry a healthy amount of business traffic too.

Saw this thread from a while back and thought I'd add to it

Now the 738W fleet is operating in numbers, the policy of LS regarding aircraft is showing. Older 733s go to the boneyard as new ones arrive, leaving the second wave of 733s and 738s around to carry on. The 738s seem to go straight into service and the older, paid off aircraft can then be parked during winter on a rotating basis. LS has a wider winter program than ever and some of the 757s have also been getting their due heavy work done. There have even been a couple more 738s bought on the secondhand market recently so the Boeing order obviously doesn't cover all their expansion and replacement needs.

They also won't be as affected as Easyjet by the Brexit upheaval as LS only operate one non-UK base, at Alicante. That can easily be changed to service from the UK bases as all LS flights are UK routes.

The Manchester Jet2Engineering hangar is also up and running.

Channex757 wrote:

eurowings wrote:

b747400erf wrote:

catering to pensioners and factory workers looking to go on holiday

Although it must be said that not everyone in Northern England works in a factory. I've flown with Jet2 about six times and I work in an office... . However, you're right they do tend to aim their product towards low and middle income people which works well for them. Plenty of them in Southern England too of course. Norwegian went to Gatwick with very low brand recognition and grown to the third largest operator, nothing to say that Jet2 can't do extremely well at Stansted with an ability to offer something that neither Ryanair nor easyJet can provide.

The problem they have is their seasonality and they have to increase utilisation as they move from flying the oldest 733s and 757s in the UK to a fleet of brand new 738s. There are of course options in low season, leasing to Canadian operators is quite common (e.g. Thomson has been doing this for years). However, we might see some more city routes.

I think almost every single flight they operate is leisure focused, one exception is Leeds-Bradford to Duesseldorf and Amsterdam which seem to carry a healthy amount of business traffic too.

Saw this thread from a while back and thought I'd add to it

Now the 738W fleet is operating in numbers, the policy of LS regarding aircraft is showing. Older 733s go to the boneyard as new ones arrive, leaving the second wave of 733s and 738s around to carry on. The 738s seem to go straight into service and the older, paid off aircraft can then be parked during winter on a rotating basis. LS has a wider winter program than ever and some of the 757s have also been getting their due heavy work done. There have even been a couple more 738s bought on the secondhand market recently so the Boeing order obviously doesn't cover all their expansion and replacement needs.

They also won't be as affected as Easyjet by the Brexit upheaval as LS only operate one non-UK base, at Alicante. That can easily be changed to service from the UK bases as all LS flights are UK routes.

The Manchester Jet2Engineering hangar is also up and running.

I really hope that they will continue there expansion over the next couple of years into Wales and the South West and they start adding more long haul routes as well. I've heard good things about Jet2 but have never used them because they don't have a welsh base.

Time will tell Jerry123. I can see expansion into the South West but where is something i'm unsure off. CWL would be good for that airport and the airline having all the market to it's self but it's not as attractive as BRS which is a larger catchment area.

No reason why CWL could not be a future project for them, Welsh people take holidays after all and Cardiff is fairly affluent

Now that BMIBaby is gone there's a definite niche there for someone like Jet2 and Jet2holidays. No reason either why BRS could not be another one. They operate out of Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as East Midlands and the new BHX base. MAN and LBA aren't that far apart either.

They do operate occasionally out of LHR as well but that's a different story as those are special charters for reluctant passengers getting a free flight home....