Bookings to Cyprus are falling sharply as travellers opt for western Mediterranean destinations amid uncertainty from the conflict in the Middle East, Jet2 CEO Steve Heapy said on Tuesday.
Speaking during the airline’s annual conference in Cadiz, he admitted that “bookings to Cyprus and Turkey are drying up, cancellations are up and our aircraft are emptying.”
Heapy said demand is shifting to Spain and Italy, and he urged hotel partners in those countries to maintain competitive pricing.
“Our job is to put our customers’ fears to one side and reassure them that these destinations are safe,” he added, stressing that Cyprus remains a secure option despite the drop in demand.
Jet2 is offering special deals to encourage travel to Cyprus and is deploying additional resources to manage the current disruption.
Heapy added that holidays to Cyprus and Turkey are expected to recover quickly once the conflict ends.
“I think we should all be prepared for a fairly rapid end to the conflict and a fairly sharp recovery when that happens,”
Jet2’s Cyprus routes remain operational, and the company is actively coordinating with hotels and agents to reassure travellers.
His comments echo those made a day earlier by easyJet CEO Kenton Jarvis, who said the conflict was driving bookings to destinations like Spain and away from Turkey and Cyprus.
The war, now in its fourth week, has already impacted bookings, Jarvis said, with customers clearly moving away from booking trips to Turkey, Egypt and Cyprus.
“Eastern Mediterranean less popular, west Mediterranean more popular,” he remarked, adding that easyJet had not yet made any capacity changes but could reduce the frequency of flights to destinations served by multiple daily flights.
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