Package holiday success for Dart

AIRLINE Jet2.com’s parent Dart Group almost doubled the number of customers in its package holiday business in the first half of its trading year.

The firm’s Jet2Holidays business took 312,000 people on holiday in the six months to September compared to 158,000 in the same period last year.

The growth was fuelled by an increase in the range of its products and development of new channels to customers both online and on the high street.

Jet2.com also grew its business with 3.6m passengers flying with the Yorkshire-based airline, an increase of 14%.

Updating shareholders this morning, Dart Group said it expected to exceed market expectations for this year.

Dart Group’s logistics arm, Fowler-Welch, is trading “in line with expectations”, the company said.

The company expects to report an increase in pre-tax profits for the first half but increased losses in the second as a result of the impact of the seasonal nature of its leisure travel business.