Sterling weakness fails to ground airlines’ optimism for Birmingham

The weaker position of Sterling in the last nine months, which remains 10% below its pre-EU referendum level, is not diminishing the appetite of airline companies to expand their Birmingham operations.

Today Jet2.com’s first flights from the West Midlands took off to Faro and Malaga as it prepares to ramp up to serve 23 destinations this summer.

This week German low-cost carrier Eurowings has announced it will launch a service from Birmingham to Salzburg in December, following the success of its flights to Vienna.

Jet2 is creating 200 jobs at Birmingham, where it will have four aircraft.

“Birmingham is part of our continued expansion,” said Jet2’s managing director Phil Ward. “We intend to grow and move forward.”

He acknowledged the impact of Brexit was having an effect, with its customers “hesitating a little bit” before spending.

“Thankfully the rainy shores of the UK mean people still like a good holiday,” he said.

“People are being more prudent. Where they did go for 14 nights, we are seeing 10, 11 or 12 night holidays.”

The flight and holiday operator, which is part of stock market-listed Dart Group, has also started operations at London Stansted Airport.

Ward added: “Our plans will hopefully allow us to expand at Birmingham and London Stansted. Now we have a more national presence, we will grow our holiday operator position to a stronger position.”

Although he wouldn’t be drawn on passenger numbers forecasts for at Birmingham, Ward did say that bookings and load factors – the percentage of the aircraft’s capacity being used – were “as per expectations”.

Jet2 has more than 840,000 seats on sale for its summer and winter schedules from the airport, with further announcements expected.

Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport, welcomed Jet2’s arrival because it will give customers “access to more choice than ever”.

“This is a significant day for Birmingham Airport as we welcome our newest partner to the West Midlands,” he said.

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