According to predictions, the number of passengers of Wizz Air in Hungary will rise from more than 3.7 million last year to over 4.8 million this year; the airline continues to strengthen its position in the Hungarian market by launching new flights, increasing the number of existing ones, and putting another aircraft into service at its base in Budapest – stated Robert Carey, the president of the airline, at a press conference in Budapest on Tuesday.
He explained that new flights will be launched between Budapest and Copenhagen and Budapest and Sharm el-Sheikh from October, and 13 flights will be added to the existing routes in the summer.
Robert Carey emphasized that Wizz Air is Hungary’s leading airline, they fly from Budapest and Debrecen to 30 countries on 71 routes, and their fleet in Hungary is growing to 15 planes.
Wizz Air also expects growth in Europe, in the fiscal year between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, they expect 67 million passengers, 70 percent more than a year earlier; and the number of its employees increases to 8,000, which is double the pre-Covid period. The airline takes passengers to more than 50 countries on around 1,000 routes from its bases.
József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air, said that their goal is to strengthen passengers’ trust in the airline.
He explained that the airline treated the Covid period as an opportunity. According to him, the industry will reach its pre-Covid level roughly at the beginning of 2024, compared to which Wizz Air performs 60-70 percent above it. For this, significant fleet investments were made, in the next period their fleet will increase from the current 179 planes to over 200 by the end of the financial year. The new planes improve the airline’s economic activity and carbon footprint.
When asked, József Váradi said that the issue of refunds to passengers will be settled soon. They increased their reserves for the summer period to avoid unexpected events.
In the first half of the financial year 2023, which ended last September, Wizz Air’s profit before taxes, interest payments and depreciation (EBITDA) increased from 164.3 million euros to 217.8 million euros, and its revenue from 880.4 million euros to 2.194 billion euros. The number of passengers increased from 12.5 million to 26.5 million.
MTI
