Jet2 moves to cover Monarch's North England capacity gaps

Jet2 (United Kingdom) (LS, Leeds/Bradford) has announced it has moved to plug the capacity shortfall at several Monarch Airlines (1968) (London Luton) bases following that carrier's collapse last week.

The UK leisure specialist said in a statement it was deploying over 100,000 additional seats to Birmingham, GB, Manchester International, and Leeds/Bradford to cover demand ahead of the start of the Winter 2017/18 season.

“This week we have put over 650,000 additional seats on sale in response to the increased demand for flights and holidays during both the summer and winter," Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, said. "To support that expansion we are increasing the size of our operation, a move which will see us introduce additional aircraft and create hundreds of new jobs."

Broken down, Jet2 will increase frequencies from Birmingham to Alicante, Faro, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Rome Fiumicino, and Tenerife Sur thereby adding 50,000 to the Birmingham market.

In a similar way, an additional 45,000 seats will be added to Manchester for use in boosting service to Alicante, Faro, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Malaga, and Tenerife. Leeds will see a further 15,000 seats this winter brought on by a further three weekly flights to Tenerife.

In terms of Summer 2018 operations, Jet2 will double the number of aircraft based at Birmingham from four to eight. The added aircraft will deliver 250,000 extra seats which will be used to boost services to Alicante, Antalya, Irakleion, Dalaman, Faro, Las Palmas, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Rome, and Tenerife while launching new services to Bodrum Milas, Dubrovnik, and Venice Marco Polo.

At Manchester in Summer 2018, the number of based aircraft will grow by two thereby allowing for sale of 300,000 seats. These will be deployed on added flights to Alicante, Antalya, Barcelona El Prat, Dalaman, Faro, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Malaga, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca and Rhodes.

At Leeds in Summer 2018, Jet2 will offer 40,000 additional seats, with more flights to Alicante, Faro, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos (Cyprus), Rhodes and Zakinthos.