British holiday company Jet2 says visibility limited as summer approaches

LONDON (Reuters) - British airline and holiday company Jet2 said it continued to have limited visibility on the current summer travel season, after it sunk to a 374 million pound ($515.04 million) loss in the year to the end of March due to the pandemic.

Jet2, which sells package holidays and flights to European leisure destinations, said that its liquidity remained strong at 1.46 billion pounds, despite losses arising from the crisis and the refunds it had to make when its aircraft were grounded.

For the current financial year, the company said its performance would depend on the level of flying permitted over the rest of summer and in its winter period, over which it currently has limited visibility.

That may have changed by later on Thursday. British transport minister Grant Shapps is expected to set out details of a plan to allow fully vaccinated Britons to return to England without quarantining, opening up travel for millions.

Looking to next summer, Jet2 said it was optimistic that 2022 would be a "considerable improvement" on the previous two years, with bookings already showing a higher proportion of higher margin package holidays in the mix.

($1 = 0.7262 pounds)

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by William James)