Wizz Air is confident for the future!
Restrictions on the movement of passengers, controls at airports, quarantines imposed on passengers from several countries: all of this is an obstacle to aviation. Worse, we don’t know if and when it will all end. If you hire a private jet, you will have less chance of being infected with covid-19, but restrictions on aircraft movement and airport sanitation remain. This is why it is good to see that one of the largest airlines in Europe is showing optimism, which is necessarily based on the conviction that the restrictions will be removed, both for airlines and for charter private jets.
Stronger by the crisis?
No signs of panic: Wizz Air offers the largest basic program of all the airlines in Europe – and the low cost is quite confident with the crisis. The airline always sees opportunities during a recession.
Wizz Air is the largest in Europe for the number of seats available.
What is Hungarian optimism based on? First, the numbers. “Wizz Air currently uses only 10% of its capacity, but it flies at 75%,” said airline boss Józséf Váradi during a webinar hosted by CAPA. “We are number three in Europe in terms of market capitalization, ahead of Lufthansa, and have 50% more capital than Easyjet, and we are number 13 worldwide for all airlines. ”
Recover faster than the competition
The low cost wants to get out of the crisis faster than the competition. “For us, the recovery will take only about a year, for the entire industry two or three,” said the boss of the company. At the latest since the start of the Corona crisis, the low-cost Hungarian airline Wizz Air, in which the American group Indigo Partners has a stake, has positioned itself to become a still dominant competitor in Europe. Based on the number of seats offered, Wizz Air has repeatedly been the largest airline in Europe with generally low air traffic volumes. At the same time, criticisms were made because the low-cost company would again have used almost empty planes so as not to have to reimburse the tickets reserved but not used. Many Wizz Air passengers who have already purchased their tickets could not have taken their flight because national locking rules made this impossible.
Wizz Air is bored by patchwork
“Unequal restrictions are an extreme handicap,” complains Váradi, the CEO. “We have 45 countries in Europe, but not two of them have the same rules, there is so much complexity that makes life difficult for people. He called for changes: “We must lift travel restrictions, flights and the free movement of people should not be prohibited,” said Váradi. He argues for wearing face protection on board, but not for blocking the center seats. “The aeronautical industry cannot operate with such uneconomic measures. At the same time, Wizz Air believes government assistance is preserving existing industry problems. “In the short term, it feels good when the government steps in and helps you, but it keeps the airline industry inefficient, unlike market forces that force you to do the right thing for your business in the long term,” said Váradi.
Boost for low-cost airlines
Wizz Air is extremely confident about this – for example, relying on a regularly rejuvenated and more efficient fleet, which is expected to reach 135 aircraft over the next year with 22 new additions to the Airbus A321neo and LR and the removal of eight older devices. “The crisis will not change the industry in the long term, at most in the short term,” said the CEO. The fact that many countries will deteriorate economically after the end of the pandemic should not detract from Wizz Air’s soaring plans: “In a recession, low-cost airlines have been shown to be particularly successful” , said József Váradi.
