(Alliance News) - Shares in Jet2 PLC were down on Thursday as it posted a widened annual loss and cautioned that its performance in the year ahead depends on the aviation market returning to stability.
Shares in the Yeadon, England-based airline and package holiday operator were down 11% to 794.90 pence each in London on Thursday.
Revenue for the financial year to March 31 jumped to GBP1.23 billion from the Covid-hit prior year result of GBP395.4 million.
The airline said that the number of passengers increased to 4.9 million compared to 1.3 million the year prior, signalling a return to normality after the pandemic.
However, Jet2 reported that net operating expenses more than doubled to GBP1.56 billion compared to GBP731.5 million last year, eating into its bottom line.
Its pretax loss widened to GBP388.8 million from GBP341.3 million the year before.
The firm said it has been hit by broader disruption across the travel sector despite investing "well ahead" of the summer 2022 season.
"Many suppliers have been woefully ill-prepared and poorly resourced for the volume of customers they could reasonably expect, inexcusable, bearing in mind our flights have been on sale for many months and our load factors are quite normal," Jet2 said.
It added that passengers have faced flight delays, baggage handling problems and lack of onboard catering facilities.
As such, its performance in the 2023 financial year depends on how fast the broader aviation sector returns to "some level of stability".
Further, Jet2 said that prices are likely to come under "some" pressure, as inflationary pressures mount.
However, it added that sale seat capacity for summer 2022 is around 14% higher than in 2019 and it is also fully hedged for jet fuel for the summer and 75% hedged for winter.
By Sophie Rose; sophierose@alliancenews.com
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Jet2 (JET2)