Wizz Air slashes profit forecast as low prices and bad weather take their toll
Wizz Air has cut its profit forecast for the full year due to falling prices and the impact of particularly bad weather.
The figures
The largest budget airline in Central and Eastern Europe carried 20.1 per cent more passengers than last year – pushing the total for the three months to the end of December up to 5.7m.
Total revenue rose 9.9 per cent to €341.1m (£290.8m), while net profit for the third quarter more than doubled to €32.5m.
But it has lowered its underlying net profit guidance to a range of between €225m-€235m for the full year, from a previous forecast of €245m-€255m.
Shares have slumped seven per cent this morning on the news.
Read more: Wizz Air takes UK business elsewhere "as direct result of Brexit"
Why it's interesting
The airline started 26 new routes for the quarter, taking its total to over 500 routes to and from 400 countries from its 27 bases.
And while the general figures are positive, the airline said it has taken a "prudent" approach to the year ahead, bracing itself for the impact of low prices and a hit from "unusually severe" weather.
Read more: New Flybe boss reveals her excitement
What the company said
Wizz Air's chief executive Jozsef Varadi said:
Although the current financial year is looking like a very good year for Wizz Air and we remain excited about our prospects for the next financial year, lower fuel prices continue to feed through to lower air fares and this downward trend looks likely to continue well into 2017.
Also, our operations this winter have been severely disrupted by unusually severe weather conditions in CEE.