Wizz Air UK’s managing director: ‘We have not been affected by Covid-induced staff shortages’
Wizz Air UK has not been affected by the current wave of Covid infections that has forced other airlines to slash hundreds of flights, its managing director Marion Geoffroy said.
“We haven’t seen an increase in the number of infected employees and we haven’t had to cancel any flights,” she told City PM “But we have to be very humble with the crisis because it gets better and then it gets worse again.”
Things for the Budapest-based airline have got better following the end of travel restrictions, with demand increasing in all the markets especially ahead of the Easter peak.
Wizz reported earlier this month that passenger demand in March peaked at 2.5 million at a load factor of 86.2 per cent.
“We absolutely see customer confidence is back and we see good bookings for the summer already,” Geoffroy explained, while adding the airline will operate at 100 per cent of its capacity during the summer.
Although most airlines suffered substantial losses because of the pandemic, Wizz Air emerged as one of the carriers who exceed pre-Covid levels.
The company, Geoffroy said, entered Covid being “financially stable and sustainable” and seized every opportunity to expand its UK operations.
Capitalising on rivals’ inability to maintain airport slots under EU and UK rules, Wizz acquired in December an additional 15 slots at Gatwick, while last week it opened its latest base in Cardiff.
“We are in the regions, we are in London, were are in all the segments and we keep growing,” Geoffroy explained.
Alongside low-cost competitors such as Ryanair, the carrier lobbied against legacy airlines retaining their airport slots if unable to use them.
In January chief executive Jozsef Varadi called the practice “a way of distorting the market.”
Wizz Air’s positive streak continued against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, which forced the airline to halt all operations.
“We eventually want to restart our operations, but it’s a matter of when we believe the time is right,” Geoffroy concluded.