Dart Group history

Art Carpenter joins forces with Guernsey exporters to create Express Air Freight. The famous Douglas DC3 helped to fly produce, flowers and freight between the Channel Islands and the UK.

Art Carpenter forms Express Air Services to take over the cargo aircraft operation from Express Air Freight.

Philip Meeson, an expert pilot who trained in the Royal Air Force and a five-time British Aerobatics Champion, purchases the 'Express' companies. We get a great new name too - “Channel Express”.

Channel Express secures overnight parcel contracts with TNT. We acquire our third Handley Page Dart Herald to carry time-sensitive airfreight between Birmingham, Nuremburg and Hanover.

Channel Express delivers for express parcel carriers, the Guernsey Post Office, Royal Mail and newspaper publishers. It's 'super' news all round, as we expand our 'Super' Dart Herald aircraft fleet too. The Group also expands its consolidation centres in both the Channel Islands and the UK.

Channel Express (Air Services) purchases the first of five Lockheed L-188 Electra freighter aircraft. Capable of carrying a 15 tonne payload, it can be loaded in 25 minutes and flies at 330 knots. We set off for pastures new, flying to key European routes for UPS, TNT and DHL.

Channel Express Group PLC gets a great new name “Dart Group PLC.” The name honours the Rolls-Royce Dart engines that are so invaluable to the Group's forays into the air. Dart Group PLC moves to the Official List of the London Stock Exchange. The company’s shareholders take up a further 2.75 million ordinary shares to raise funds for expansion, with 15.25 million ordinary shares now in issue.

Dart Group PLC acquires Fowler Welch Ltd, a temperature-controlled distribution company. It becomes a major asset, making important deliveries to top supermarkets every day. We also gain BS5750 Quality Assurance accreditation, which proves our systems are working to serve customers, shareholders and stakeholders.

Dart Group PLC purchases the Airbus A300-B4, a 257 passenger aircraft that was the world's first twin-engine widebody jet airliner. We convert ours into freighters with a mighty moniker the Eurofreighter. Fowler Welch also adds a new warehouse at its Spalding headquarters, as well as a lovely new logo and livery.

Channel Express is called upon by the major delivery providers UPS and DHL. We’re also awarded Type Rating Training Organisation (TRTO) approval by the CAA and Joint Airworthiness Requirements (JAR 145) .

Dart Group PLC darts upwards in size as it now has 1,500 colleagues across its companies. We’re a major player for freight, distribution and delivery. Coolchain welcomes the new millennium by reaching a three-year agreement with the Canary Island’s Federation of Produce Growers. It also buys A. Wood & Son (Detling), a former local competitor.

Jet2.com, the leading low cost leisure airline, is launched! After the success of our chartered service, we announce that the first Jet2.com flight will take off in February 2003. Dart Group PLC purchases a further eight Boeing 737-300QCs. We also purchase a fourth Airbus A300-B4 for cargo. Jet2.com opens for business on 11th December 2002. It sells 12,000 seats online within the first 24 hours!

Jet2.com flies its 500,000th passenger in March 2004, then welcomes its one millionth passenger in September 2004. Already aiming to expand, we’re on course to begin flights from both Belfast and Manchester airports. Our air deliveries are still going strong, as Channel Express secures a long-term contract to be the leading aircraft provider of the Royal Mail.

Channel Express (Air Services) Limited changes its name to the catchier Jet2.com Limited - over five million passengers have now flown with the airline. To meet this extra demand, we buy ourselves six more Boeing 757-200 aircraft. Fowler Welch-Coolchain buys local competitor R.F. Fielding Cheshire Ltd and Dart Group PLC splits its shares by 4 for 1, so there are now 134 million ordinary shares in issue.

Jet2.com announces it flew more than 4 million passengers in a single year. It’s a great way to mark the airline’s fifth anniversary, in a year that also sees us introduce the myJet2 loyalty scheme. Fowler Welch-Coolchain makes several sprightly upgrades to its operations, including the complete redesign of its Paddock Wood warehouse facility. Dart Group PLC wins the ‘Enterprise IT Solution of the Year’ at the Channel Network Awards, beating Selfridges and Coca Cola in the process.

Fowler Welch-Coolchain expands its business even further, purchasing a 500,000 sq. ft ambient distribution centre at Heywood, Greater Manchester. Meanwhile, Jet2.com welcomes its 20 millionth customer onboard. We also take ‘pride’ in safely flying 13 lions from a Romanian zoo to a new 10-acre enclosure in Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Later, Jet2.com launches at Glasgow Airport.

Jet2.com has a winning start to the year by scooping ‘Best Short Haul Airline’ at the Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards, beating bmi, British Airways, easyJet, Iberia and Lufthansa. Jet2holidays celebrates five years since its launch, with passenger numbers increasing by a whopping 500 percent. We also launch ‘Take Me There’, a training programme to ensure Jet2.com and Jet2holidays colleagues have the know-how to create an even better experience for our customers.

Jet2.com makes a swift return to winning ways by scooping the ‘Best Short Haul Airline’ for the third year in a row at the Globe Travel Awards 2014. We see the launch of our spectacular £9.5 million state-of-the-art Training Centre in Yorkshire, complete with three flight simulators. we roll out our new mobile responsive Jet2holidays website.

The great growth story continues at Jet2holidays, as we now notch up 1.2 million customers in a single financial year. This stacks up with our other impressive figures, as we now employ over 5,000 colleagues across the UK and overseas. Our airline is also recognised for its great legacy with the Business Achievement Award at the Travel and Hospitality Hall of Fame.

We’re delighted to bring Jet2.com’s friendly low fares and Jet2holidays’ great value package holidays to even more customers with the launch of our 8th base, Birmingham, and our 9th base, London Stansted. Jet2.com is also proud to be ranked the UK’s top airline on TripAdvisor and the UK’s Most Loved Airline on Skytrax.

The 15th September 2016 is a monumental day for us – it’s when our first brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft comes home. Landing at Leeds Bradford, our shiny new aircraft has interior innovations such as sculpted sidewalls, more open space and extra legroom. It’s the first of 30 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft due to be delivered from 2016-2018, with a further order of four more aircraft to bring the total to 34 by January 2019.

There’s also more BIG news for Jet2.com, as we open our new 6,000 square metre Manchester Hangar, so we can maintain up to three aircraft at a time.

We’re delighted to lead the way with more ways to keep our customers happy, too. At the end of the year, both Jet2.com and Jet2holidays completely remove credit card fees to offer even better value for money. We are proud to be the first company to offer zero credit card fees on flight and holiday bookings through debit cards, credit cards or PayPal.

It’s a winning start to the year as Jet2holidays wins Best Short Haul Operator for the second year running at the Globe Travel Awards. We also win Best Trade Friendly Brand, and are voted by customers as Favourite Short Haul Operator. Jet2.com also scoops Best Short Haul Airline for the fifth time in seven years.

Jet2.com has more to celebrate on 12 February this year, as it marks 15 years of flying. Over 60 million customers have enjoyed our friendly low fares since our first flight back in 2003.

Thanks to our fantastic service, both brands are also recognised by Feefo, one of the UK’s biggest review websites, as Jet2holidays wins a Gold Trusted Service award and Jet2.com gets a Trusted Service award. In April, Jet2holidays welcomes 260 school children on the Ultimate School Trip to Sol Katmandu Park & Resort in Majorca! Over 1,600 schools from across the UK entered our competition to win a place, and 45 shortlisted schools were placed for a public vote to decide the winning class from each region of our nine UK bases. The nine winning classes enjoyed an amazing trip hosted by celebrities Dick & Dom, Angellica Bell and Diversity’s Jordan Banjo. We also gave £1,000 of funding to each shortlisted school.

Our industry recognition continues with more top awards from highly respected review brands. Jet2.com wins Best Airline –UK and Best Low-Cost Airline – Europe at the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards again, and also wins Best Economy Class – Europe. Jet2.com’s reviews on TripAdvisor make it 7th in the Top 10 Airlines of the World too. Meanwhile, Jet2.com & Jet2holidays are awarded Travel Brand of the Year 2018 at the Which? Awards. As the award takes into account feedback for customer service over an entire year, it’s a clear endorsement of the VIP experience we offer.