British airline Jet2 welcomed a record of more than 14 million passengers in 6 months thanks to the statement that caused a social media storm “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday”.
Jet2 airline said it welcomed 14.1 million passengers in the first 6 months of the fiscal year to September 30. This is an increase of 750,000 people over the same period and is their record number. Accordingly, revenue also reached an all-time high of 5.34 billion pounds (equivalent to nearly 7 billion USD), marking a 5% increase over the same period last year.
Despite passing some cost pressures onto customers, pushing the average price of a package holiday up 3% to £933 (more than $1,200) in the half year, Jet2 still recorded growth. Package holiday customers increased 1% to 4.73 million, while air-only passengers increased 16% to 4.77 million.
As a result, first-half operating profit increased by 2%, although this period had to record higher investment costs in new facilities at Bournemouth and London Luton airports. Pre-tax profit for the first half of the year increased by 1%, reaching 800.3 million pounds (more than 1 billion USD). At the same time, it also had a budget for a plan to buy back treasury shares worth 100 million pounds ($131 million), causing the company’s shares to increase 5% a day later.
A Jet2 plane in operation. Image: ACB News
Jet2 is a British low-cost airline, specializing in scheduled flights and charter flights. As of 2022, it is the third largest scheduled airline in the UK, after easyJet and British Airways.
The management board said that the number of passengers reached a record thanks to the saying “Nothing beats a Jet2holidays” (Nothing beats Jet2holidays) that suddenly became famous on social networks, accumulating more than 80 billion views globally. This is a slogan taken from a promotional video released by the company since 2024, introducing economical vacation packages of Jet2holidays – the airline’s subsidiary specializing in providing package tours.
The audio clip opens with the song “Hold My Hand” by singer Jess Glynne released 10 years ago, followed by the line “Nothing beats a Jet2holiday”, which became an internet phenomenon when users included it as background music for videos on social networks. The audio began attracting attention on TikTok in April, when airline Jet2 posted a competition for fans to lip-sync the audio and have a chance to win airline ticket vouchers.
The original commercial used the sound “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday”. Video: Jet2
According to July Google Trends data, the keyword “Nothing beats a Jet2holiday” reached an all-time high in interest, becoming the top breakout search term in the lifestyle category. Despite the cheerful atmosphere, many videos using this sound describe “half laughing and crying” moments while traveling, such as being hit by a water slide on a tube, almost being hit by an ax that bounces back while playing ax throwing, and being touched in the face by an elephant using its trunk while traveling in Thailand. Many videos receive tens of millions of views.
The widespread awareness following the “Nothing beats a Jet2holiday” trend also helps this airline extend its growth momentum into the second half of the fiscal year. Jet2 said travelers are continuing to book flights and holidays for the winter, with purchasing power no less than in the summer months. The company recorded a 7.7% increase in seat sales capacity compared to the same period last year, currently reaching 5.5 million seats.
However, this airline has been attached to the song “Hold My Hand” for a long time and this used to make passengers “tired”. 2018, music magazine NME reported that many passengers complained because this song was played too much on the flight. At that time, presenting singer Jess Glynne admitted in a radio show that she did not know Jet2 would use the song with such frequency and apologized to those who were bothered.