Wizz Air’s passenger demand soar following restrictions easing
Passenger demand of low-cost airline Wizz Air has soared following the easing of travel restrictions.
In January, the Budapest-based airline carried 2.3 million passengers, a 220 per cent jump on January 2021 levels. Its load factor – which measures the percentage available seating capacity filled with passengers – has also gone up 18.6 per cent, from 61 per cent last year to 79.6 per cent today.
The data has confirmed what Wizz Air’s chief executive Jozsef Varadi said last week. Commenting on the airline’s third quarter results, Varadi said passenger demand was bouncing back, especially in the UK, following the government’s decision to scrap all travel testing.
“There is a very clear correlation between the level of restrictions imposed on travel versus market demand,” he told investors.
“What we are seeing in the UK today is what we are going to be seeing in continental Europe in the next four to six week, [i.e.] restrictions easing correspond to robust demand coming up.”
In the three months ended 31 December, Wizz Air reported €267.5m worth of losses as a result of Covid-induced travel disruption and the expansion of its workforce and fleet, City PM reported.
“The emergence of the Omicron variant and renewed travel restrictions impacted our trading performance late in the quarter and we expect demand in January, February and part of March to be impacted by ongoing travel uncertainty,” Varadi continued.
“As such, Wizz Air anticipates the operating loss for the fourth quarter of F22 to be slightly higher than the operating loss of €213.6 million for the previous one.”