Jet2holidays is a British

package holiday A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ho ...

provider and tour operator. It was formed in 2007 as a subsidiary of Dart Group PLC (now renamed Jet2 PLC), and a sister to

Jet2.com Jet2.com Limited is a British low-cost leisure airline offering scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom. As of 2022, it is the third-largest scheduled airline in the UK, behind EasyJet and British Airways. Jet2 is also official ...

, the third-largest

scheduled airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

in the UK. As of 2018, Jet2holidays is the second-largest tour operator in the United Kingdom, by ATOL licenses granted.

History

Jet2holidays was founded in June 2007. Upon launch, Jet2holidays provided package holidays from Jet2.com’s six bases in Leeds, Manchester,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

and Edinburgh. It began operations at

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () no ...

in May 2010 and announced an expansion to Glasgow Airport later that year. In 2014,

Blackpool Airport Blackpool Airport is an airport on the Fylde coast of Lancashire, England, in the Borough of Fylde, just outside the Borough of Blackpool. It was formerly known as Squires Gate Airport and Blackpool International Airport. Ownership of the ai ...

closed, taking the company back down to seven bases. By March 2015, Jet2holidays was providing package holidays to one million customers per year. The following month, it created Jet2CityBreaks, a subsidiary specialising in shorter holidays to its city destinations. In April 2017, Jet2holidays became available from nine bases after the company announced an expansion to

Birmingham Airport Birmingham Airport , formerly ''Birmingham International Airport'', is an international airport located east-southeast of Birmingham city centre, west-northwest of Coventry slightly north of Bickenhill village, in the Metropolitan Boroug ...

and London Stansted Airport. On 7 June 2017, Jet2holidays launched Jet2Villas, expanding its portfolio of self-catered package holidays. Later that month, it celebrated ten years of operation, and had sold over seven million package holidays. In October 2017, when Monarch Airlines ceased operations, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays added over 650,000 seats from former Monarch airports, leading to Jet2holidays overtaking Thomas Cook Tour Operations to become the second-largest tour operator in the UK.

Operations

Jet2holidays offers ABTA and ATOL-protected package holidays that comprise accommodation, transfers, baggage and return Jet2.com flights to 55 destinations, focusing on the Canary Islands,

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital ...

, Spain, Greece and Turkey. Jet2Villas provides self-catering villas and apartments across Jet2holidays destinations on a similar basis, while Jet2CityBreaks provides ABTA and ATOL-protected holidays with accommodation, baggage and flights to 37 destinations, including a seasonal service to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

, its sole transatlantic route. Jet2holidays sells its products through both its website and independent travel agents. In 2010, TUI Group and Thomas Cook offered Jet2holidays deals through their own travel agent networks. As Jet2holidays grew to become the third-largest tour operator in the UK, both competitors ended these arrangements in 2017. By January 2019, Jet2holidays was partnered with 1,000

travel agents A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinatio ...

, which were accountable for 25% of its overall bookings.

Awards

* 2018, 2019: Best Short Haul Operator, Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards. * 2018, 2019: Gold Trusted Service Award, Feefo Trusted Service Awards. * 2018: Travel Brand of the Year, Which? Awards. * 2017: highest-performing tourism organisation, Institute of Customer Service UK Customer Satisfaction Index

Fraudulent illness claims

In November 2018, Jet2holidays successfully defended itself against four holidaymakers who falsely claimed to suffer gastric illness on a holiday in

Benidorm Benidorm is a town and municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Benidorm has been a tourist destination within Spain since 1925, when its port was extended and the first hotels were built, though ...

. All four were given a three-month prison sentence suspended for two years, and fines of £750 each. In December 2018, Jet2holidays fought a false compensation claim from two holidaymakers who travelled to Marmaris, Turkey, which resulted in the couple being forced to pay the company £30,000 in damages.

References

External links