Even though there were numerous disruptions in the early part of the season, Wizz Air achieved new records for daily flights and quarterly passenger numbers in the summer of 2022.
The low-cost airline claimed to have carried 12.9 million passengers between June and August and to have flown 859 flights in a single day on September 5, 2022.
“Wizz Air delivered strong results in the second quarter of the fiscal year, after a difficult first quarter operationally,” chief executive József Váradi commented in a first-half results statement issued on November 2, 2022.
“Our operational performance has recently normalized and we are now back in line with our historically low levels of cancellations and flight disruptions,” Varadi added.
In the summer of 2022, many European airlines had to cancel or delay flights because to a lack of aviation personnel. In between April and October, 7.4% of Wizz Air’s scheduled flights were canceled, which was second only to SAS’s cancellation rate, which was negatively impacted by pilot strikes.
Wizz is the only other European airline that consistently flies more than it did prior to the epidemic, along with Ryanair. Wizz, which has typically concentrated on eastern Europe, stated that it anticipated operating at a capacity that was approximately 35% higher than pre-pandemic levels in the second part of its fiscal year.
“While the macroeconomic backdrop remains challenging and uncertainty for consumers has heightened, we have put in place measures to mitigate the impact on our costs,” Varadi said.
The airline projects a return to profitability for the 2024 fiscal year, although expecting a net loss for the second half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
Revenue increased 41% compared to pre-COVID levels in the second quarter, according to Wizz, and EBITDA showed a “very favorable” trend of €374 million ($370 million).
