Putting digital at the heart of the Airline

Airlines live and die by their ability to attract new customers and keep them coming back. For investors, customers, and employees, that repeat business is what keeps the whole engine running.

At Jet2, I led the digital delivery function — the team right at the heart of making this possible.

Customers expect three things: fair pricing, clarity on what they’re buying, and simple, seamless ways to book and travel. To win them, you need strong marketing and distribution. To keep them, you need outstanding experiences and operations. Increasingly, all of this depends on digital.

Jet2 already understood this, but the way we worked needed to change if we were going to scale effectively. The challenge was clear - how do you redesign a digital operating model in a multi-billion-pound business without slowing it down?

Building the Operating Model

The answer was to break the business into clear digital domains that could run as independently as possible, while still connecting into the bigger strategy. We chose four: Monetisation, Customer Experience, Business Operations, and Flight & Holiday Operations.

Each domain had cross-functional teams, with clear goals and measurable outcomes tied directly to business priorities. This was Jet2’s first digital product strategy — and it gave the executive team a single view of what mattered, why, and when.

With this structure in place, we could scale at pace. The digital team grew from 35 to 75 in a year, within budget. That growth wasn’t painless — we had to upskill and retain people quickly — but with the apprenticeship levy, partners like Multiverse and Corndel, and training providers including QA and Reforge, we built capability while keeping delivery moving.

As we scaled, we also needed a new way to track progress. So we introduced an organisation-wide programme management practice, giving leaders a clear view of outcomes, dependencies, and risks. This allowed us to prioritise effectively and direct effort where it mattered most — from “beyond the horizon” innovation to today’s product optimisations.

The result was a blueprint for transformation that Jet2 could keep building on: clear roles, clear processes, and a relentless focus on outcomes.

Delivering the Outcomes

Transformation only matters if it delivers real results. For Jet2, the benefits were felt by both customers and the business.

For customers, we:

• Launched the MyJet2 loyalty programme, boosting retention and improving the app and online journey.

• Cut call handling times with a new contact centre platform.

• Improved the payment experience by re-platforming gateways.

• Helped in-resort staff serve customers better with faster, smarter tools.

For the business, we:

• Reduced contact centre attrition thanks to improved systems.

• Delivered £100M+ in revenue uplift through pricing and inventory optimisation.

• Streamlined back-office processes by re-platforming the ERP and crew management systems.

Each of these was important in its own right. But the real success was the clarity we built: everyone knew what we were delivering, why it mattered, and how it connected to the wider strategy. That alignment gave Jet2 the confidence to invest effectively in digital, knowing it would deliver.