Business

Wizz Air Posts Record Profits

Emerging Europe’s biggest airline Wizz Air announced on January 31 that it had posted record third-quarter profits in the three months to December 31. The airline carried more passengers than ever before as it continues to expand and take market share. Profit for the period was a record 14 million euros, a year on year increase of 3.6 per cent.

“I’m pleased to report that Wizz Air has once again delivered a successful third quarter, with passenger numbers increasing by 24 per cent year-on-year to a record of 7.1 million for the quarter and load factors reaching 89.4 per cent,” said József Váradi, Wizz Air’s chief executive. “Our strong performance over the first nine months of the financial year and an encouraging upcoming Easter has enabled us to increase fourth quarter growth and deliver 25 per cent more passenger to nearly 30 million passengers for the full financial year.”

Total revenue for the quarter reached 422.9 million euros, of which 241.7 million euros was ticket sales: ancillary revenues from onboard sales and extra services accounted for 181.1 million euros of revenue. Average ancillary revenue per passenger declined from 25.9 million euros in Q3 2016 to 25.4 million in Q3 2017, a decrease of 2.1 per cent. This decrease was due to the removal of the Company’s ‘paid for’ cabin bag policy at the start of the quarter.

Wizz Air is the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, operating a fleet of 88 Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft serving more than 550 routes from 28 bases, connecting 145 destinations across 44 countries.