Wizz to cut flights amid lockdowns

LONDON: Wizz Air would cut its flying plans for January because of new lockdowns in Britain, its chief executive Jozsef Varadi said yesterday, adding that there was little visibility for the coming months but travel demand should return by summer.

Earlier in the day, larger competitor Ryanair cut its annual traffic forecast by around five million passengers, also blaming lockdowns.

During December, Varadi said Wizz flew 35% of 2019’s capacity.

He forecast that the new lockdowns in the United Kingdom, one of Wizz’s three biggest markets alongside Romania and Poland, would mean capacity would fall to 25% in January.

Varadi, who co-founded Wizz in Hungary in 2003, said Wizz’s longer term growth story remained intact, and the airline should bounce back.

“I think if restrictions get removed by summer, I would say that summer 2021 would not be far away from summer 2019 from our perspective,” he said. “But you would not see that happening at many of the other airlines.”

Since the pandemic struck, some larger airlines have scrambled to raise the funds to survive a period of almost no flying. easyJet, British Airways and Lufthansa all plan to shrink.

But Wizz entered the crisis well-funded, like Ryanair, with which it vies for the title of Europe’s lowest-cost airline.

Wizz says its €1.6 billion ($1.96 billion) in cash means it can survive for two years even if all planes are grounded.

The pandemic is still a challenge. Wizz axed 1,000 staff and for the six months ended September, sank to a loss of €145 million. The stock is down 13% over the last year.

Wizz spent the last five years expanding beyond its eastern European base across the United Kingdom and western Europe and has continued to grow its fleet despite the pandemic.

Since last March, it has opened 260 new routes and 13 bases, including one at Gatwick, London’s second biggest airport, where it is keen to expand.

Next week, it will head further east with the launch of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, an airline connecting the Gulf region and Europe.