Airline and package holiday companies have been firmly in the spotlight in the last week.

The peak summer season is in full swing and Jet2 provided a key update on the current state of play.

It was good news on this front from Jet2, which told the City on Wednesday: “Summer 2026 on-sale capacity is 7.7% ahead of summer 2025. Reduced geopolitical uncertainty has led to strong booking momentum in recent weeks, supported by targeted price investment.

“Booked-to-date passengers for summer are up 7.1%, with average load factor for the first four months of the year currently 1.2ppts (percentage points) ahead of the prior year. The group remains confident in the resilience of demand as it continues to invest in load factor, supported by the strength of its proposition, the agility of its operating model and its competitive, value-led pricing.”

Jet2 has recently been making quite a noise with various eye-catching promotional offers.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at stockbroker AJ Bell, flagged the effect of the Middle East conflict as he declared on Wednesday: “Jet2 is not alone in suffering from disruption earlier this year. The entire travel sector experienced major challenges and that’s fed through to a demand wobble. The focus is now on bouncing back and Jet2 is trying to fill its planes and sell as many package holidays as possible.

“The reference to ‘targeted price investment’ is jargon for Jet2 cutting prices to encourage sales. That suggests the recent pick-up in trading might not necessarily be the most profitable, but any momentum in the business is welcome given the difficult backdrop.”

Others in the City appeared to take a similarly upbeat view of........

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