Jet2 is parking its tanks firmly on Easyjet’s lawn as it announced its expansion into London Luton Airport – where its rival is headquartered.
The Leeds-headquartered carrier is to start operating flights from the transport hub from next April.
London Luton Airport will become Jet2’s 13th UK base and will offer 17 destinations.
Jet2 said its move comes as a response to “strong demand” from flights and package holidays from customers and independent travel agents across London, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
In recent years, the carrier has expansed into Bristol, Liverpool and Bournemouth.
For its first summer of operations from London Luton Airport, Jet2 will have 430,000 seats on sale and will run 36 weekly flights.
Jet2 to create over 125 jobs
Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, said: “We are very excited to announce London Luton Airport as our 13th UK airport base today, further expanding our footprint and bringing our award-winning holidays and flights to even more customers.
“Customers and independent travel agents have been asking us to open at London Luton Airport for many years now, so we know how enormously popular this announcement will be.
“We have seen time and time again how popular our product is when we bring it to new customers, and we look forward to delivering our VIP customer service to holidaymakers from our newest airport base.”
He added: “This latest expansion reflects our strategy to be the UK’s leading and best leisure travel business and it underlines the confidence we have in our leisure travel product offering.
“As well as signalling great news for holidaymakers, today is also a major boost for the local economy as our significant investment includes the creation of over 125 jobs initially.
“We are looking forward to our first day of flying, when we can begin delighting customers with our flights and holidays, just like we do with millions of other customers across the UK every single year.”
Revenue takes off at expanding carrier
The expansion comes after Jet2 hiked its dividend by more than a third after record passenger numbers helped its revenue and profit soar during its latest financial year.
The Aim-listed carrier, which is based out of Leeds Bradford Airport and is now the UK’s third-largest airline, said its revenue rose 24 per cent from £5bn to £6.2bn in the year ended 31 March, 2024.
It flew a total of 17.7m passengers in the financial year, a rise of nine per cent on its previous 12 months, which was further boosted by the fact it secured a higher margin per passenger on its passage holidays – up 15 per cent.
‘Fantastic news’ for London Luton Airport
Alberto Martin, chief executive of London Luton Airport, added: “We are delighted to welcome Jet2, the UK’s leading package holiday provider, to London Luton Airport.
“The arrival of Jet2 is fantastic news for the millions of passengers who choose to fly from the airport each year and marks a major expansion of Jet2’s operations in the south of England.
“It will also create exciting new jobs for local people and new opportunities for our local supply chain that we already work so closely with.
“Next year is shaping up to be another bumper year for London Luton Airport and the addition of 17 exciting new routes on our departure boards, including three destinations that are exclusive to the airport, underlines our commitment to providing even greater choice as part of our simple and friendly passenger experience.”