Wizz Air shares

Wizz Air, the short-haul challenger to Ryanair and easyJet, is significantly lagging behind its rivals as the airline industry recovers from pandemic travel restrictions. Air traffic problems are not helping!

At the close of business on Thursday 31 August its shares stood at 2,278.8 well below the more recent peak of 5,000 in summer 2021.

The London-listed, Hungarian-based airline reported pre-tax profits of €67 million for the three months to the end of June, the first quarter of its financial year. That remains below the figure it reported for the April−June quarter of 2019, the comparable pre-pandemic period.

It is also significantly below its main rivals, who both hit record pre-tax profits in the same quarter this year: Ryanair at €740 million and easyJet at £203 million (€235 million).

Wizz has suffered financially as a result of the sharp increase in oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after deciding to keep its fuel bill unhedged during the pandemic.

In the latest quarter it carried 15 million passengers, a record for the three months, though it remains about two thirds the size of easyJet and about one third the size of Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline.

The latest figures also reveal that while Wizz Air, like every other airline this year, has increased fares as a result of strong demand, it has not been able to do so at the same rate as others.

Wizz’s average revenue per passenger – air fares plus add-on charges from allocated seating, priority boarding and baggage fees – has risen to €81, which is 21% higher than before the pandemic. The equivalent increase at Ryanair is 31% and at easyJet 50%.

Jozsef Varadi, Wizz Air’s co-founder and Chief Executive, appears unfazed and said the airline remains on track to hit profits of between €350 million and €450 million for the year to the end of next March. “Summer is going well operationally and from a revenue perspective”, he said.

Wizz currently flies around 180 aircraft but has orders with Airbus totalling more than 500.

The airline has had an awkward time over the last 12 months, with a short notice withdrawal at Doncaster Airport, forcing its closure, and pulling out of Cardiff. It has also been criticised by the Civil Aviation Authority over its handling of refunds to passengers. The UK boss of the airline, which has large operations at Luton airport, conceded that last summer it had faced “unprecedented operating challenges”.

www.wizzair.com

Index/Home page
 

READERS' COMMENT

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 200 words maximum

No one has commented yet, why don't you start the ball rolling?