Bristol Airport has been given a major boost by Jet2, the UK’s third largest airline, which from next year will make the airport its 10th base and launch flights to 33 destinations.
Jet2, which does not currently operate from Bristol, will also create more than 200 jobs at the airport in roles ranging from flight and cabin crew to engineers and ground operations staff. 
The announcement was welcomed by airport bosses as a vote of confidence in the region.
Bristol, in line with all UK airports, has been hit hard by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic with severe cuts to its services, particularly flights to holidays destinations.
Nearly 250 job losses were announced at the airport in June, including 76 directly employed staff and 176 by aircraft handling firm Swissport.
Jet2’s operations from Bristol will start next April and will mainly continue through the summer season to October. Four winter destinations – Geneva, Grenoble , Salzburg and Paphos – are also included in the schedule and are due start in December next year.
The company, which also operates the Jet2holidays brand, will base three, 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft at the airport, enabling it to operate 56 weekly flights, bringing an additional 450,000-seat capacity to the airport.
The destinations are spread across mainland Spain, the Canary Islands, the Balearics and Madeira as well as Greece, Turkey, Italy and Portugal.
All but two of the 33 destinations, which include family holiday hotspots and short-break favourites such as Palma, Ibiza, Faro and Lanzarote, have previously been served from Bristol – with 27 of them operated by Thomas Cook, which collapsed 14 months ago.
Some 19 of the routes will be in direct competition with the airport’s largest operator easyJet, which serves 72 destinations from Bristol, and 16 with Tui, Britain’s biggest tour operator which last month launched its summer 2022 holiday schedule from the airport.
Jet2 will also go head-to-head with budget airline on six of the routes. However, nine, including Girona and Reus in Spain and Verona, in Italy, pictured above, will have no competition from Bristol. 
Four of the summer routes – Izmir in Turkey, Kalamata and Lesvos in Greece, and Costa de Almeria in Spain – will also be Jet2 exclusives at Bristol and not served from its other nine airports.
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays CEO Steve Heapy, pictured right, said: “This is an incredibly exciting day for Jet2.com and Jet2holidays as we expand our award-winning flights and holidays to Bristol Airport.
“We know how much demand there is, because we have been listening to customers and independent travel agents in the region for some time. We are delighted to be bringing them the news that they have been looking forward to, meaning that they can finally enjoy real package holidays from Bristol Airport.”
Bristol is the UK’s ninth busiest and England’s third largest regional airport. Last year it handled around 9m passengers – a number which had originally expected to nudge the 10m mark this year.
However, following its near closure earlier this year and massive reduction in services since due to travel restrictions, airport bosses have said they do not expect passenger numbers to return to previous levels for at least three years. easyJet, which has 17 aircraft based at Bristol, has also said it does not expect demand to fully recover until 2023. 
Bristol Airport CEO Dave Lees, pictured right, said: “Never has the time been more important for the region to look to the future in a post-Covid world, and Jet2.com and Jet2holidays have shown the confidence in the strength of the region to open up their 10th UK operating base at Bristol Airport.
“This exciting news is a major step towards the future by creating job opportunities, providing significant investment and an increase in the choice of destinations and holidays available to customers in the region.
“We will continue to work closely with Jet2.com and Jet2holidays on the strategic partnership and develop further opportunities in the future.”
Jet2 originally started 30 years ago as the commercial aircraft company Channel Express and made its first leisure flight under the Jet2.com brand from Leeds Bradford Airport to Amsterdam in 2003.
Since then it has sold more than 96m seats and currently flies to more than 60 destinations, operating a 34-strong fleet of Boeing 737-800 next-generation aircraft, the latest of which entered service last year.
Click on the image below to see all destinations announced by Jet2 from Bristol
