A Quick Message from the Author…
In nearly 10 Years of reporting various flights in various parts of the world showcasing different economy & business class flights, I have reached my 200th Flight Report Article on the website! I want to say a massive THANK YOU everyone who has taken the time to read my postings, like & comment on my articles and watched my videos that I've linked on each report. Hopefully it won't take me another ten years to make it to 400 Reports!
I found it fitting to make my 200th Article feature a very special flight, so I'll stop waffling here and get on with my 200th Flight Report!
Jet2's Homecoming!
Whilst Jet2 has been the "Airline of the North" for most of its existence, its first base being at Leeds/Bradford Airport, the then small budget airline up-start which formed in 2003 as part of the DART Group PLC was one of two airline's owned by the Group… The other was based at Bournemouth Hurn Airport, a small Cargo & Charter airline called Channel Express, which operated from 1978 to 2006.
Channel Express operated the last Handley Page Heralds in the UK as well as flying for many years the Lockheed L-188 Electra. However by 2003, these had all gone in favour of Fokker F-27, Boeing 737-300 & a few Boeing 757-200. This would be the beginnings of Jet2!
By 2006, Jet2 was becoming a very strong low-cost holiday airline in its Northern strongholds, it was around this time that Channel Express was wound down and Jet2 became the main focus of the Dart Group- which later rebranded as Jet2 PLC to be the holding company that operates the various companies that run Jet2 & Jet2Holidays. In the mid-2010s the "North's Airline" began to migrate South as it opened up bases in the Midlands, London Stansted and Bristol… Then in 2024 the airline announced its new base at Bournemouth Airport… Effectively coming home!
Party at Bournemouth Airport!
Given I've lived in the Bournemouth area for several years now, I wasn't going to let Jet2 come to my local airport and not go on the inaugural flight, so £110 for a one-way ticket on the first flight (I'll report on my return flight at a later date), I was due to fly the first Jet2 flight from Bournemouth Airport on Tuesday February 4th 2025!
It has been quite a while since my last flight from Bournemouth Airport, and Jet2 has made their presence here known! There is a customer service stand right at the entrance and the Airline kicked off its first day by having Jet2 executives at the entrance to the Airport welcoming people as well as a massive balloon stand to enter through! A few stands related to the First Flight were also dotted around the Airport for PR.
Jet2's arrival is the "kick up the backside" Bournemouth Airport has needed for almost a decade now! TUI Airways & Ryanair have both launched new routes and increased capacity on some of the route they are rivalling Jet2 on, so this will see a nice increase in airline traffic. easyJet is still holding onto its Winter Ski flights to Lyon & Geneva in the Winter, but they seem to be capitalising on nearby Southampton Airport.
Once I got airside I was shocked to see how busy it was with a massive pre-departure party in full swing! Jet2 had a lot of displays out, a Flamenco guitarist & dancer, plus a free breakfast table for the passengers & delegations from Jet2, Bournemouth Airport & the Local Press. I also couldn't resist getting a photo of the Jet2 cake with the little Boeing 737-800 model on it…
Whilst shooting my videos for the event as well as capturing my photos for this report, I was approached by a Jet2 executive who recognised me from when I did a Travel Vlog comparing Jet2 & LNER last year! We had a talk about how this is a huge benefit for Jet2 & Bournemouth and briefly touching on how Jet2 is coming home after its history as Channel Express, which the gentleman remembered being involved in when he was based in Bournemouth with Channel Express and having to travel to Leeds to help the burgeoning Jet2!
I got in the que for the flight once boarding began, whilst I was in the que I noticed the "Cake Cutting" Ceremony being conducted by people involved with Bournemouth Airport and Jet2. A very cool capture for myself, despite being a phone snap rather than an official press photo as you can see being conducted here!
Jet2 LS3671 (BOH-TFS): The First Jet2 Flight from Bournemouth!
The Jet2 Boeing 737-800 that was sent to operate the first flights from the new base at Bournemouth Airport was G-JZBA, this aircraft was a factory fresh delivery from Boeing in October 2017. Until 2015, Jet2 only operated second hand Boeing 737-300 & Boeing 737-800 until they placed an order with Boeing for 34 brand new aircraft from Boeing between 2016 & 2019. This aircraft wears the classic Silver-Red Jet2 livery and sports on its nose the sticker of "Jet2Turkey". As we boarded, the TUI Boeing 737 was being readied for push-back (also to Tenerife) and a Ryanair Boeing 737 was also being readied for its first flight of the day.
The airline has switched to order the Airbus A321-neo brand new, but the Boeing 737-800 fleet will likely continue to fly for a number of years given how new some of them are as well as multiple planes being fitted with new Split-Scimitar winglet upgraded.
We boarded the plane quite promptly, but we were ten minutes behind pushing back for take off as the Airline wanted to conduct some final PR moments before we departed Bournemouth Airport. The CEO of Jet2 came on to give us a quick speech and proudly announce a new Jet2 route from Bournemouth for the Winter 2025 season in the form of Agadir in Morocco, a route that weeks earlier Ryanair announced they would pull out of. They also did a quick tombola, they had the names of all passengers on this flight in a box ready to give out a Free Jet2 Package Holiday to Menorca, a gentleman did win it, but it wasn't myself… The flight was very nearly sold out with only less than 10 seats unoccupied when I looked later in the flight.
We pushed back and made a quick haste to the Runway, we would be departing off Runway 26, giving us a Westerly heading on our take off towards the towns of Poole, Weymouth and Dorchester. The daylight was now starting to break through, but we'd get some better light once we cleared the miserable cloud cover that day… Tenerife had more promising weather for that day!
Given how quiet it is at Bournemouth Airport, even with a new fourth airline operating here, we did a rolling take off and as soon as we left the Airport it was straight into heavy clouds. We eventually set course for the Canary Islands as well as pushing through the cloud cover to reveal a beautiful Winter Morning Sunrise! Some people might have found the sunrise a bit intense or annoying, but I love it, plus as I was at the Window- its my choice whether the blind stays up or not!
My choice of Seating for this 4hr flight from Bournemouth to Tenerife was Seat 14A, it was down in front of the Over-Wing exits but also as you can see in my photos right next to the left engine and giving a nice view of the left wing as well. It was also far enough back that it classed as a standard seat when booking seat selection with Jet2 as quite a few of the seats in front class as Premium Seating as they're near the front of the plane and some have slightly extra legroom.
All passengers on this flight got a bright red Jet2 branded tote bag as we were in Bournemouth Airport's FIRST FLIGHT CLUB! Which was a cool little present. In my bag (as well as everyone else's) I was given a Jet2 Boeing 737-800 model in the same livery as the one we were flying, a Jet2 multi-lead charging cable, a metal Jet2 water bottle, a holiday voucher, a Jet2 notebook & pen with a luggage tag.
I believe anyone on the first Jet2 flight from London Luton got a similar bag when they launched that base 8 weeks after mine.
Jet2 still offers inflight magazines & menus, take note BA! One thing I love about the Jet2 map is how their network spans out despite being mainly regarded as a holiday airline. For some reason the new upcoming base at London Luton is not featured in this edition, but Bournemouth is. It is somewhat possible to fly Jet2 aircraft from Reykjavik, Iceland through to Larnaca, Cyprus… Some 8 hours of flying Jet2 planes, though a stop at a base with both routes would need to be done (likely Manchester or London Stansted).
They also had a page on their Duty Free section where you could buy Jet2 merchandise which includes a choice (subject to stock) of FOUR Jet2 aircraft. Those currently being the recently retired Boeing 757-200 in the Silver/Red livery, the Boeing 737-800 in the Red/Silver livery & White/Blue Holidays livery as well as a model of the new kid in the fleet- the Airbus A321neo in the White/Blue holiday livery.
I had pre-ordered a breakfast for this early departure, I know Jet2 does some nice inflight meals- they're pretty nice for a budget airline. I ordered the Cooked English Breakfast with a choice of Tea, Coffee or Water… I opted for the Yorkshire Tea as I was flying on a Leeds based airline… from Bournemouth! It was pretty nice and enjoyable, it filled me up nicely for the most of the flight. A bread roll & some Lurpack butter sided it off as well as an Alpen Cereal bar.
I went to use the forward lavatory, whilst waiting I got a quick snap of the forward galley, before heading to the rear of the Boeing 737, it was quiet at the back whilst I waited as the crew went off to do some customer requests, so I used the time to quickly get a rear galley shot, once they returned I also grabbed a quick cabin shot, which showcases just how busy this flight was!
The crew did another round on the drinks and snack cart, I don't usually by alcoholic beverages on budget airlines where it can cost quite a bit, but as it was the launch flight of Jet2's new base- I made a very rare exception. Johnny Walker black label & Pepsi Max being my choice of "poison". A short while later a Duty Free trolley pass was made… I don't regret buying another airplane model, especially as it completed my Jet2 collection so far!
The flight passed as usual and as we entered the last 20 minutes of the flight, I could see out of the left of the aircraft Mount Teide, the volcano which dominates the Island of Tenerife. The usual arrival into Tenerife South Airport often results in great views of the Volcano from the left side of the Aircraft.
Our arrival into Tenerife South brought us in past Mount Teide, before making a wide left turn just off the Island over the North Atlantic Ocean just South-West of the Airport whilst descending. The aircraft once it finished the turn made a direct descent toward Tenerife South Airport for Runway 07. Being on the left side of the aircraft you can get some nice views of various towns in the South of the Island.
Tenerife South is a very busy airport, and it pulls a descent crowd of airlines & services during the Off-Season as much as it does during the peek Summer Season. We were the only non-Schengen arrival at that time, a few UK flights had already arrived & were boarding or just boarded and we were the first of the next batch of arrivals, arriving just ahead of the incoming aircraft. Which is great considering that when its busy the non-Schengen passport control could get very busy and take ages to get through.
I was the last passenger (who didn't require assistance) to leave the aircraft, but as I was leaving I noticed on the left side of Row 10 that the overhead baggage storage bin had "Jet2Tenerife" printed, which was a fitting last sighting. I didn't enquire for a flight deck visit as I had to get on the bus, we were going to be bussed over to the Passport Control area, the aircraft was parked on stand for the non-Schengen departures area, so the passengers on the return flight would be able to simply walk on.
Overall it was a very fun experience being on the Inaugural Jet2 flight from Bournemouth Airport down to the sunny island of Tenerife! This being only my second visit to this popular island for British Tourists. I look forward to seeing Jet2 progress at Bournemouth, and on the day I wrote up this Flight Report, Jet2 announced in 2026 they'd be launching a once weekly service to the Channel Island of Jersey!
