Fewer passengers using Yeadon-based budget airline Jet2.com dented profits at its parent company Dart Group plc last year.

Chairman Philip Meeson described the year to March 31, 2010, as “reasonably satisfactory” for the aviation and logistics group, in spite of challenging conditions for Jet2.com.

While group turnover fell slightly from £439m the previous year to £434m, pre-tax profits fell by around a third from £33.5m to £22.2m due to lower margins at Jet2.com following lower customer demand.

Capital expenditure rose to £32.1m against £27.9m in 2009, due mainly to long-term maintenance of aircraft airframes and engines, and the acquisition of another Boeing 757-200 aircraft.

Jet2.com suffered from weaker customer demand for its passenger services, especially during the off-peak and winter months, with flights to skiing destinations particularly affected.

During the year, Jet2.com carried more than 3.1 million scheduled and charter passengers.

Mr Meeson said early action was taken to reduce capacity and frequency in order to control potential losses.

The airline continued to develop services to year-round ‘far sun’ destinations, including additional flights to Cyprus, Egypt and the Canary Islands, in the face of increased capacity from other operators. New destinations were also added.

Mr Meeson said the group’s 40-plus in-house IT team was key to its planned future development. It had built the Jet2.com and Jet2holidays.com reservations systems from scratch and was working closely with commercial and operational teams to deliver to exacting specifications.

Mr Meeson said: “We are continually developing and improving these IT business systems to meet our customers’ needs.”

An example was Jet2.com’s growing loyalty scheme.

The IT capabilities also helped boost other retail revenues from checked-in bags, seat selection, pre-booked meals, in-flight service, foreign exchange and commissions on car hire. Together, these generated £21 per passenger.

The group’s expanding tour operator, Jet2holidays.com, sold more than 64,000 packages, and this was planned to grow substantially.

Mr Meeson said: “With the contribution of passengers from Jet2holidays alongside our other income streams, we feel optimistic that, provided we are flexible, continue to innovate and offer really great-value fares, our aviation business will prosper.”