i passed through Lille airport in France on Wednesday and there were three Jet2 Boeing 737-300 present. Two had arrived in the morning from Bristol. The third arrival was, IIRC, from Belfast . All three aircraft departed with ten minutes of each other 4 pm'ish, two to Edinburgh and the third (IIRC) to Leeds (could be wrong here). Anyone in the know why they were there?

Probably mail flights

Believe tbey were chartered for B and Q.

I understand they were flights for B and Q as well, with similar flights arranged through a number of UK airports.

The BRS flights were supposed to be operated by two Alba Star Boeing 737-400s which definitely brought back the passengers from Lille on Thursday afternoon.

I suppose it's possible (but not very likely?) that the outbounds (from BRS) on Wednesday could have been switched to Jet2 aircraft for some reason albeit Mayfly showed them as Alba Star.

There were 2x Jet 2 733s departed EDI to Lille on Tues about 6am. Both returned to EDI On Wed afternoon. Both B&Q charters.

Pardon my continental European igorance, but "B and Q" as in "B&Q" DIY stores? What would be the purpose of those flights?

Some kind of conference for shop staff from across the UK. Jet2 were doing flights all week from various locations.
Crazy that it works out cheaper to send people via chartered aircraft to France, than hold the event in the UK!

Thanks.

It certainly looked interesting to arrive at Lille airport and see three Jet2 Boeing 737s docked at the small terminal. At first I thought I was suffering from hallucinations.

It looks as if a planeload of staff arrives in the morning of day 1 and then departs in the afternoon of day 2.

TCX also operated a flight from MAN yesterday.

B&Q is owned by Kingfisher Group which own DIY Chain stores throughout Europe, I suppose Lille is fairly central location for the various European stores.

Ah, this will be the reason then: In pictures: Kingfisher's unveils innovations at first product show in Lille

Dart Group have issued a trading update, including this:

Jet2.com, flew 4.1m passengers in the six months to 30 September 2013, an increase of 13% over the same period last year, supported by the continued growth of Jet2holidays and its sales of great value package holidays. The business also achieved increases in ticket yields and load factors, though more recently yields and therefore operating margins have come under pressure. [my emphasis].

Full details at: Trading Statement and Notice of Results | Dart Group PLC

Dart group results.
 

Share price well off too. perhaps time for some more GDF input.

Share Price is still 3 times what it was at this time last year. Reaction more to do with the fortunes of the Distribution Arm Fowler Welch where the report states:- Typical Stock Exchange response but things will settle down in due course.

Could any one see a london base in the next couple of years

Boeing 737-8
 

Interesting question

Jet2 expansion to date has been cautious but steady and generally successful, but its roots since the start of Jet2 at Leeds have been in the North. Its move into the Midlands was well timed with the demise of bmibaby, but it gets more difficult from here South at least for any significant share of the London market.

It would be logical to start to edge into the BHX market, but that runs the risk of BHX taking passengers away from EMA.

The other problem is the very seasonal nature of its operations and this becomes a bigger problem as Jet2Holiday.com increases it share of total passenger contribution of the groups total, Jet2 is far more seasonal than any of its peers, hence the reference to increased winter losses. It has in the past mitigated this through seasonal contracts, 70% contracts and wet leasing extra Summer capacity, but this is fraught with risk as Monarch found out when a wet leased Eastern European aircraft ended up in the weeds at BHX!

Whilst they were inundated with applications for recent position only around 50 were from people who were rated on type (737) or so I'm told? they will of course always get some drift from pilots who want to be based near their families or trying to escape the dust of the middle East.

Norwegian have demonstrated (LGW) that you can expand rapidly into the London market even at Easyjets biggest base in Europe, but i doubt that Jet2 have the resource in terms of management,capital,pilots or the will to try at say LTN or STN, they (Jet2) still have a freighter mentality in terms of aircraft investment or lack ie buy it cheap but don't it use a lot, i don't see any vision or passion in what they do, but to date that hasn't done them any harm.

I think 2014 will be a good year for them, after that it becomes much more difficult with out significant fleet investment and that means debt, lots of it for decades to come, is that what PM wants? its still a one man show at the top.

They can ease the seasonal pressure by buying capacity on other airlines for Jet2holidays.com,but that would be a bitter pill for the bosses ego.

So London? i think no anytime soon, they need to make EMA their own, Monarch effort there ( & Leeds) is half arse'd, no new fleet announcement, talk of C series WTF? i think EMA can be a 10 aircraft base for Jet2 and keep growing at MAN it can only be when not if Norwegian open a base in MAN,BHX & EDI

If they potentially run the risk of taking passengers away from East Midlands by operating from Birmingham then could they potentially look at operating from BRS or even CWL.

CWL are actively looking for new routes and airlines so may have a great deal at the moment as they strive to increase passenger numbers.

Prices on package tours from CWL are stil rather high with TOM & TCX therefore LS with Jet2holidays could potentially take advantage of this and the increase in demand from CWL especially seen in the trend over the last couple of months.

Yes CWL is very seasonal however there are gaps for some year round services along with Ski destinations and even sporting charters.

Yes, I think a Blackpool sized operation by Jet2 (incorporating Jet2 Holidays) could work well from CWL. Their flight only prices are competitive and their inclusive holidays good value.

In terms of a London base Jet2 could conceivably operate from SEN again, in a rather more sheltered commercial environment than RYR dominated STN. Their previous operation was simply a few charter flights for Ford, but it would be good to see their aircraft back at the expanded SEN, taking advantage of the larger terminal next year. No doubt they have already been approached by the SEN management.

Jet2 did very little work for Ford, a short burst when they were putting leather seats in the 737-700 machines that replaced the BBJs. The rest was for a variety of customers but the aircraft always needed to be back for the Royal Mail flying which restricted the work that could be taken on.