Sign up to create alerts for Instruments,
Economic Events and content by followed authors
Free Sign Up Already have an account? Sign In
Quotes
All Instrument Types
- All Instrument Types
- Indices
- Equities
- ETFs
- Funds
- Commodities
- Currencies
- Crypto
- Bonds
- Certificates
Please try another search
💎 Access the Market Tools Trusted by Thousands of Investors Get Started
Wizz Air sees return to profit on strong demand, summer preparations
Published Jun 08, 2023 02:17AM ET
Updated Jun 08, 2023 06:00AM ET
© Reuters. Wizz Air's aircraft is parked on the tarmac at Ferenc Liszt International Airport in Budapest, Hungary, August 18, 2022. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/File Photo
By Sarah Young
LONDON (Reuters) -European low-cost airline Wizz Air is confident that strong bookings combined with a big investment in its operations to avoid last year's summer travel snags plus its growing fleet will help it swing to a profit this year.
For the 12 months to the end of next March, Hungary-based Wizz said it expected a net profit of 350 million to 450 million euros ($481.59 million), a huge improvement on the annual net loss of 535 million euros it reported on Thursday.
Its forecast was better than the 343 million euro consensus outlook, lifting the airline's shares by 3% to 2,838 pence.
"The fact that management are willing to give profit guidance for the current fiscal year is a sign of confidence," said Goodbody analysts.
Wizz, whose main operations are in central and Eastern Europe, but also has a fast-growing Middle East business, cautioned that its outcome was contingent on there being no new adverse events such as the Ukraine war.
Last year, Russia's invasion impacted Wizz's performance forcing it to suspend operations there. A lack of fuel hedging plus airport issues also dragged.
Wizz, like many airlines, was forced to cancel flights last summer after a faster-than-expected rebound in air travel coupled with labour shortages caused chaos at airports.
Jozsef Varadi, Wizz's chief executive, said the airline was better prepared for this summer, the most profitable period for European airlines.
"We have invested essentially hundreds of millions in magnitude into making our operating model a lot more resilient," he said in an interview.
That meant more spare aircraft, spare parts, extra pilots and cabin crew were available.
Wizz said it was seeing strong bookings and higher fares for summer, in line with trends identified by competitors such as Ryanair, Europe's biggest airline, and easyJet (LON:EZJ).
The airline is set to receive 30 new A321neo aircraft from Airbus by April 2024. Varadi said he was confident those would arrive despite supply chain issues.
($1 = 0.9340 euros)
($1 = 0.9344 euros)
Related Articles
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
Report this comment
I feel that this comment is:
Comment flagged
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.