Jet2.com expects strong demand for leisure travel in Europe over the forthcoming summer season, helped by UK inflation falling to the lowest level in more than two years.

Speaking on March 28 as the airline launched the first flights from its 11th UK base at Liverpool Airport (LPL) in England—and just days after announcing that Bournemouth Airport (BOH) would be its 12th from summer 2025—CEO Steve Heapy said booking momentum is robust as consumers select vacations over other discretionary spending.

“Customers are prioritizing holidays over many other things—people want to go on holiday, and I think we've seen that reinforced since the COVID period,” Heapy told Aviation Week Network.

“UK inflation is down to just above 3%, and interest rates are supposed to be coming down if you look at the forward guidance from the Bank of England. There are also some tax benefits announced in the [UK government’s] budget.

“Those three things are going to improve the money in people’s pockets—they have got a little bit more money to spend, and I think they'll continue prioritizing holidays above anything else.”

Jet2's seat capacity for summer 2024 is up by 12.5% compared to last year, totaling around 17.2 million seats. According to OAG Schedules Analyser data, the airline plans to operate approximately 400 nonstop routes, with more than 3,200 weekly flights and 630,000 weekly seats during peak season. This marks an increase from approximately 2,500 flights and 476,000 seats during the same period in 2019.

The new Liverpool base sees the launch of 20 routes from the city, including flights to six unserved points—Bourgas, Gran Canaria, Madeira, Menorca, Rhodes and Zante—as well as to popular Mediterranean destinations like Alicante and Palma de Mallorca that are already served by competitors easyJet and Ryanair. A further three routes will be added during summer 2025 to Malaga, Malta and Reus, with the arrival of a fifth based Boeing 737-800.

“It’s a big moment for Liverpool as we’ve wanted Jet2 to operate from the airport for years,” Liverpool Airport CEO John Irving told Aviation Week Network. “We have great relationships with our existing airline partners, but we always felt the airport and the region needed a bigger holiday product. It also broadens our destination base.”

The latest schedules indicate that Jet2 will become the third-largest carrier at LPL this summer with a 13.4% capacity share, behind easyJet on 40% and Ryanair on 38.3%. Wizz Air is the fourth largest, with about 5.3%, followed by Loganair on 1.2%.

Irving said the airline’s entrance to the market is expected to push passenger numbers to about 5 million in 2024, in line with pre-pandemic figures. He added that Jet2’s arrival offers a welcome boost after Lufthansa suspended flights to LPL from Frankfurt in February, citing aircraft shortages.

“There is demand for hub connectivity in the Liverpool city region, and the Lufthansa route was working,” Irvine explained. “We have ambitions to get it back as soon as possible—at the moment, we view it as suspended, rather than canceled.”

Jet2's first flight from LPL took off on March 28, just two days after the airline—in collaboration with its sister company Jet2Holidays—announced the establishment of a new base at Bournemouth Airport (BOH) scheduled to open in April 2025. Sixteen routes will be served from BOH using two based aircraft.

The expansion comes as the airline continues to increase its fleet in line with its growing vacation business. Jet2 has traditionally been a Boeing operator—and maintains a fleet of more than 90 737s—but made an initial order of 36 A321neos from Airbus in August 2021.

The airline now has 110 Airbus A320neo-family aircraft on order, with the possibility of extending it to 146 jets. It has so far taken delivery of six A321neos—the first of which arrived last May—and Heapy expects “two or three” more to be delivered this calendar year.

Asked when Jet2 plans to exercise further options, Heapy said, “We're working on that at the moment, and we'll hopefully have something to say in the next few weeks.” He added that the arrival of the 232-seat A321neos is enabling capacity to be increased on existing routes, upgauging service from a 189-seat 737-800, rather than facilitating the launch of new ones.