Chief Executive Officer, Jet
Search every verified Steve Heapy interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2Holidays, has been active in expanding the company's operations, including the launch of a new base at London Luton Airport in April 2025, which he described as the company's 13th base. Heapy stated that Jet2 has a history of growing quickly at its bases and expressed hope to do the same at Luton. He also discussed the company's financial performance, noting that Jet2 had increased its ATOL license to 5.85 million customers, making it the UK's largest tour operator, a position he attributed to the company's focus on being "the best" rather than "the biggest." Heapy has been a vocal critic of government taxation and sustainability policies. He argued that the UK government's Emissions Trading Scheme raised approximately £450 million but said the funds should be "ring fenced and used specifically for green or decarbonizing projects." He warned that rising taxes on aviation would price lower-income consumers out of flying, stating that "flying will become the preserve of the rich and privileged." During the COVID-19 pandemic, Heapy expressed frustration with government travel restrictions, describing the removal of Portugal from the green list as "devastated, angry, confused" and calling for more decisive action. He has also emphasized the importance of cash reserves and financial robustness, advising against gambling on a strong late-season market and urging the industry to build long-term businesses capable of weathering disruptions.
“because otherwise it's just another demand management mechanism whereby prices keep going up for air travel and when prices go up demand will drop and you know I think we got to be very very wary of this because if prices keep coming up demand will drop and who are the people that will not be booking it's the people at...”
“it depends really if it's a late market then it may be the case that there is some discounting but you know we you have to be careful not to sort of lead the market don't you? If you start discounting too early then you condition people to expect discounting closer to your departure and it becomes a self-fulfilling pro...”
“It's an indisputable fact that if taxes keep going up then prices will keep going up. The fundamental law of supply and demand dictates that if prices keep going up demand will go down. Therefore if demand goes down who is demand going to go down from? It will be the people that have been priced out of the market, i.e....”
“The ETS emissions trading scheme, I think the UK government raised about 450 million in the last 12 months from this, but in our opinion it needs to be ring fenced and used specifically for green or decarbonizing projects. If you're charging tax to try and change behavior, I think it helps if the proceeds of that tax i...”
“The government not only here but in European countries continues to increase taxes in the name of sustainability not one penny of those taxes is ring fenced for sustainability projects and all it's doing is putting the cost of flying going holidays up and up and up and if prices continue to go up because of increased t...”
“We've never had an ambition to be the biggest we've always had an ambition which I think we continue to realize to be the best and because we're the best I think hopefully that's why we've become the biggest.”
“yeah well I think the last three years has been unusual and somewhat unpredictable and we can't gamble on January be normal why would January be normal when the last three januaries have me uh we don't want to gamble and you know we're treating November December like it's January I know what urge our independent travel...”
“yeah I think uh cash is important it's the most important thing in the business and the fact that we have the passionate we could refund our customers unlike many uh other companies in the travel industry they kept their customers cash um why would you keep money for a product you can't deliver we wanted it back so it...”
“We work off international guidelines and the guidelines are for airlines that mask wearing is still required, but we're watching very carefully the announcements of Boris Johnson at the end of February and I think it's very likely we'll drop the mandatory use of masks even if the guidance is not that. I think if in oth...”
“We've reduced our emissions already on aircraft, in the ground, in the offices. You know, we've ordered another 75 brand new aircraft, Airbus A321, which are the cleanest in their class. So we're spending a lot of money; the gross transaction value before discounts of those aircraft was 10.1 billion dollars, so we're i...”
'If you look at our other bases we've got a history of growing pretty quickly and we hope to do that at Luton as well', Lucy Huxley speaks to Jet2's Steve Heapy about plans to grow for its latest base and the wider trading picture
Jet2's Steve Heapy told the Travel Weekly Sustainability Summit that the public thinks airlines are nine times more carbon emitting ...
Liverpool John Lennon Airport are delighted to announce that, from March 2024, Jet2.com will fly to 20 amazing destinations from Liverpool John Lennon Airport. We hear from Jet2.com Chief Executive Officer, Steve Heapy. Watch the full video at • Jet2.com & Jet2Holidays announce launch of... Jet2.com offer Friendly Low Fares to destinations across Europe, and pride themselves on offering industry-leading and award-winning customer service, great flight times, allocated seating and a generous baggage allowance. While Jet2holidays leads the way with great-value ATOL and ABTA-protected pa…
Jet2's Steve Heapy speaks to Lucy Huxley following news that the firm is the UK's largest tour operator.
'Don't gamble on a strong lates season, get the bookings in while you can' Lucy Huxley caught up with Jet2.com & Jet2holidays' Steve Heapy at the operators annual conference in Portugal
Στα πλαίσια της παρουσίασης του προγράμματος για την σεζόν 2023 στην Κω, ο CEO του βρετανικού τουριστικού οργανισμού Steve Heapy μίλησε αποκλειστικά στο Ράδιο Πρώτο και Βήμα της Κω. Για το 2023 αυξάνεται το πτητικό έργο και οι πτήσεις προς την Κω του τουριστικού οργανισμού ενώ παράλληλα μίλησε για το πώς μπορεί να γίνει επέκταση της τουριστικής περιόδου.
Jet2.com & Jet2holidays' Steve Heapy speaks to Lucy Huxley about current challenges facing the sector.
Could this be the end of mask wearing onboard aircrafts!? NI Travel News' Jonathan Adair speaks with Jet2.com and ...
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