Originally Posted by
P330
Does anyone know what Jet2’s utilisation is like in winter?
Looking at the the midweek trackers, it seems only a handful of planes were flying.
I can understand that in the early days but with 30+ new builds in the fleet and ooodles of second hand aircraft arriving, it must be expensive to have these planes parked up? And they don’t winter lease like TUI do they?
Very complicated at BHX as the winter is split into many segments - Clock change to the third week in November, high utilisation with at least half of the 8 based flying 4 sectors Friday - Monday and most aircraft flying two sectors Tuesday - Thursday.
Then there is the third week in November to the week before Christmas when BHX's 8 based will be quieter such as Tuesday three flights and Wednesday two-three flights and even Thursday just 5 or 6. A couple of aircraft on a Friday or Saturday might do 4 sectors.
Then there is Christmas and New Year plus the ski season when again 3 or 4 aircraft will do two sectors at the weekend only but most move most days except Tuesday and possibly Wednesday which see the odd extra frequency for a couple of weeks but one flight only..
Once the schools are back in the New Year Wednesday shrinks to two flights and Tuesday 3 and probably one or two aircraft doing 4 sectors Saturday and Sunday
Then Feb half-term comes along and Thursday - Monday expands significantly and most of the extra flights remain until the summer timetable and even increase in March where Friday, Saturday and Sunday can see half the BHX fleet operating 4 sectors. Thursday last week had nine flights operated by nine aircraft some on short flights and Jet2 chose to fly in the 9th aircraft rather operate say the extra flight (KEF) then Malaga or Alicante after (That is not a criticism just an observation). Tuesday and Wednesday see extra flying but not all 8 based and certainly there hasn't been any 4 sector days until the end of March.
Overall the BHX base in winter has been fantastic, good, sensible utilisation but also very aware these shiny new 737's don't come cheap and it is not the same as having a fully depreciated aircraft on site.
Pete