Jet2: Flights, Holidays & Passengers — Are Numbers Up or Down?
- 19 hours ago
- 4 min read
Research period: October 2025 – March 2026 | Published: March 2026
The data is unambiguously positive. Jet2 is growing across every meaningful dimension — passengers, revenue, bookings, capacity, and customer satisfaction — and is doing so faster than the wider UK market. The headline figure for the most recent period (H1 FY2026, six months to 30 September 2025) shows 14.09 million passengers flown, a 6% year-on-year increase, on top of a record-breaking FY2025 full year of 19.77 million passengers (+12% YoY). The company's February 2026 trading update confirmed Summer 2026 bookings are 7.9% ahead of the same point last year, and on 26 March 2026 Jet2 launched its 14th UK base at London Gatwick — the largest new airline base launch at Gatwick this century.
Passenger Numbers & Financial Performance
Full Year FY2025 (year ended 31 March 2025)
Jet2 posted record numbers across every financial metric for FY2025. Total flown passengers grew 12% to 19.77 million (from 17.72 million in FY2024). Package holiday customers rose 8% to 6.58 million, while flight-only passengers surged 18% to 6.62 million. Group Revenue reached £7,173.5m (+15%), operating profit came in at £446.5m (+4%), and profit before tax was £593.2m (+12%). Basic EPS improved 15% to 213.1p. The company launched a £250 million share buyback programme in April 2025, signalling strong balance sheet confidence.
Half Year H1 FY2026 (six months ended 30 September 2025)
The H1 FY2026 Interim Results published 19 November 2025 show growth continuing at a measured pace. Seat capacity increased 8% to 15.98 million, with flown passengers growing 6% to 14.09 million. Load factor came in at 88.2%, down 1.6 percentage points — a deliberate trade-off as Jet2 added 8% more seats ahead of demand. Revenue grew 5% to £5,342.2m and operating profit increased 2% to £715.2m. Flight-only passengers were up 16%, while the average package holiday price rose 3% to £933.
CAA Official Data
The UK Civil Aviation Authority's Q4 2025 Aviation Trends report (covering October–December 2025) shows Jet2.com carried 3,976,333 terminal passengers in Q4 2025 — a +3% year-on-year increase. This outpaced the overall UK aviation market growth of +2%, confirming Jet2 is taking market share even in the quieter winter quarter. Jet2 ranked 4th among UK airlines by passenger volume, behind EasyJet, Ryanair, and British Airways. Notably, TUI Airways — Jet2's closest like-for-like leisure competitor — saw a 4% passenger decline in the same period.
The Winter Capacity Cut — In Context
In September 2025, Jet2 trimmed 200,000 seats from its Winter 2025/26 programme, reducing the total from 5.8 million to 5.6 million seats, citing a "less certain consumer environment." However, this 5.5 million seat winter total is still 7.4% higher than Winter 2024/25 — the cut was a reduction from a planned increase, not a decline below prior-year levels. By February 2026, the Summer 2026 programme was confirmed at 20 million seats — 8% above Summer 2025 and growing at 1.45x the UK market rate.
Forward Bookings & Summer 2026 Outlook
The February 2026 Trading Update — the most recent corporate statement — is clear: booked-to-date passengers for Summer 2026 are up 7.9% versus the same point last year. London Gatwick (launched 26 March 2026) already has over 260,000 passengers booked. The A321neo fleet grows to 31 aircraft for Summer 2026, with a total peak fleet of 139 aircraft. Over 75% of FY2027 fuel requirements are already hedged at favourable rates.
Customer Reviews & Sentiment
Jet2.com's Trustpilot profile shows strong growth: from 115,871 reviews in September 2025 to 127,338 by January 2026 — an increase of over 11,000 reviews in four months — while the 4.4/5 "Excellent" rating held completely steady. The myJet2 loyalty programme grew 62% year-on-year to 8.4 million members, and the Net Promoter Score sits in the mid-60s with a 62% repeat booking rate for package holidays.
In February 2026, Jet2.com was named the only UK airline to receive Which? Recommended Provider status for the eleventh consecutive year. In March 2026, Jet2 was named the best company in the UK for customer experience at the Institute of Customer Service UK Customer Satisfaction Awards — a cross-industry accolade.
Operational Reliability
AirAdvisor ranked Jet2 the most reliable UK airline for the second consecutive year, with a cancellation rate of just 0.02% — fewer than 2 flights per 10,000 departures (EasyJet's rate is 55x higher at 1.1%). The CAA Q4 2025 data shows Jet2's on-time performance at 74%, and the H1 FY2026 results confirm only 44 flights (0.05%) were cancelled across the entire six-month period.
The TikTok Effect
Jet2's "Nothing Beats a Jet2 Holiday" jingle became one of 2025's biggest social media moments, with over 2 million TikTok videos using the audio and the 2024 ad accumulating 2.4 million YouTube views. Rather than distancing itself from the meme, Jet2 launched a #Jet2Challenge with a £1,000 holiday voucher prize, turning viral attention into user-generated content and new customer acquisition — consistent with the 16% surge in flight-only passengers and 62% myJet2 membership growth.
Verdict
Jet2 has seen a clear, sustained increase in flights, passengers, and holiday volumes across every data source examined — official CAA statistics, company financial filings, customer review platforms, and forward booking data all point in the same direction. The airline is growing at approximately 1.5x the rate of the UK short-haul leisure market, expanding its network aggressively, and maintaining best-in-class customer satisfaction scores at scale. The one headline that suggested decline — the 200,000-seat winter capacity trim — remains net positive year-on-year and has been more than offset by Summer 2026 expansion plans.
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Sources: Jet2 plc Preliminary Results FY2025, Jet2 plc H1 FY2026 Interim Results, Jet2 plc February 2026 Trading Update, CAA Q4 2025 Aviation Trends, CAA UK Airline Data 2025, Trustpilot, AirAdvisor, Which?, Institute of Customer Service, Reuters, Travel Weekly, CAPA Centre for Aviation.
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