“For us it’s all been about building trust,” says easyJet holidays sales chief Brad Bennetts, almost exactly a year to the day since the package holiday specialist starting selling through the trade.

The operator may have had the luxury of basking in a familiar orange glow of its parent airline but for Bennetts, it was never about simply relying on reputation when it came to attracting agent business.

“We’re lucky we’ve got 24 years of airline legacy behind us, but in other ways, the customer doesn’t know our brand so it’s been exciting to be able to work with agents, who have really embraced us, to get the message across about what we can offer and how we can do things differently. 

“We’ve spent a lot of the past 12 months being flexible, amending bookings and working through a lot of different things. We want to work towards becoming the most trusted operator the trade can choose and I think we’ve really demonstrated that over this past year and agents have shown their support in return.”

Speaking to TTG this week ahead of easyJet holidays’ first trade anniversary on Thursday (19 August), Bennetts says the operator has been “blown away” by the support it has received from agents – which has “far exceeded any expectations”.

With around 3,000 independent agents now signed up to work with easyJet holidays – and the operator reporting “some fantastic sales numbers” since launching – Bennetts believes it is proof the trade has “really bought in” to the brand.

A “key” factor in achieving this he says has been its work around education – in particular the launch of a dedicated agent Facebook group in December – to keep partners up to date.

Another success, Bennetts believes, has been the brand’s “flexibility” to adapt to the ever-changing nature of international travel over the past year – in particular its “Covid commitments” policy, allowing amendments up to 24-hours before departure for amber list countries and an average 10-day timeframe for refunds.

“We’ve wanted to make agents’ lives as easy as we can,” says Bennetts.

Agent training has also been important as travel consultants return from long periods of furlough and navigate their way back to life in high street stores once again.

After “finding our feet” over the past year and amassing a solid stable of agents to work with, the focus for Bennetts and his team over the next 12 months is to “nurture” its established relationships.

“There’s a lot to be said about working closely with those that are supporting you during these times and building those connections and making sure we’re doing things right by agents and their customers.”

A notable part of this will come from yet another expansion to easyJet holidays’ Sheffield-based trade contact centre – which has grown its headcount twice since August 2020 and shortly due a third expansion ahead of the peak booking period. 

Growing easyJet holidays’ agency sales team - which includes Bennetts and trade distribution manager Adrian Marpole – is also "absolutely on the agenda when time permits", insists Bennetts.

Although a “nimble” trade team has proven a benefit when dealing with the turbulence facing travel these past months.

“With Adrian and I, people know who to come to when they need support. We’re a small team but it means agents can come straight to the horse’s mouth when they need help and I think it’s been key in our development.”

Looking ahead to the coming weeks and the end of a difficult summer, Bennetts says easyJet holidays is still seeing “strong demand for September and October” on the back of improved consumer and agent confidence – with the Algarve and Majorca its top-selling trade destinations.

Moving into the winter, Tunisia and Egypt’s inclusion on the government’s red list remains “disappointing” and a hurdle to overcome says Bennetts.

Although he is bullish destinations such as the Canaries – and especially Tenerife – can offset that hole and are already “taking a large share” of the operator’s business.

He’s further upbeat on the subject of peaks and optimistic of seeing a more successful turn-of-year period than 2020.

“I was feeling confident for peaks last January - but things didn’t turn out the way many of us would’ve hoped. This year, we’re still preparing as if it’s going to be normal busy peaks.

“We’re confident of [the industry] coming out of this and the pent-up demand will be there – our plans are already well under way.”