The Leeds-based firm said that whilst the recent positive news about a potential vaccine was welcome, it will continue its cautious approach to summer 2021. The owner of package holiday operator Jet2holidays and airline Jet2.com saw an 88 per cent fall in revenues from £2.5bn to £300m in the six months to September 30. The group made a pre-tax loss of £119m, down from a profit of £337m. The firm grounded its aircraft fleet in mid-March and resumed operations on July 15 after the Government lifted quarantine restrictions for an approved list of countries. Its summer flying programme focused on routes where it could make a profit. Jet2.com flew just 990,000 passengers over the six month period, down from 10 million passengers in the same six month period in 2019. Current seat capacity is close to summer 2019 levels and it is selling flights to all of its popular Real Package Holidays leisure destinations. The group said it has taken action to improve its liquidity to ensure it is best placed to respond swiftly as travel restrictions are modified and customer confidence recovers. Around 80 per cent of UK staff were furloughed after the first lockdown was announced, which made full use of the grants available under the UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, with similar schemes also in place for many of its overseas colleagues. Despite the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, its monthly salary bill remains a substantial proportion of overall costs and the firm has asked all colleagues (including directors) to take an ongoing pay cut. Jet2 strengthened its cash position in May by completing an oversubscribed placing of 20 per cent of the then issued share capital of the company, raising gross proceeds of £171.7m. Jet2's executive chairman, Philip Meeson, said: "We have taken great pride in refunding our customers promptly. "Our virtual contact centre, social media and customer service teams having worked tirelessly in this regard, and we were duly recognised by the UK Civil Aviation Authority as the only UK airline to have been consistently processing cash refunds quickly."
