Owner of budget airline Jet2.com sees profits 'materially ahead'

The owner of British budget airline Jet2.com said annual profit would be “materially ahead” of current expectations as pricing in the holiday market strengthened, lifting its shares. Parent company Dart said on Monday its profit for the twelve months ending March 31, 2018, would be boosted by “a more normalised pricing environment” for flights and holidays following a previous period of heavy discounting. Jet2.com, which last summer was Britain’s fourth largest airline by passenger numbers and also sells holidays, would have benefited from the collapse of rival travel firm Monarch last year. Monarch’s demise came partly as a result of tough competition in the Spain, where a price war among airlines and tour operators coincided with hotels raising prices. Monarch’s collapse removed capacity from the market, easing pressure on prices, which has also recently boosted Jet2.com’s bigger rivals easyJet and Thomas Cook. <br/>