Wizz Air warns of Q4 loss after Omicron hits third quarter trade

Wizz Air Holdings

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16:45 18/11/24

-5.62%

-81.00p

Budget airline Wizz Air on Wednesday reported a third-quarter operating loss of €213.6m and warned of a higher loss in the final fiscal quarter loss due to the Omicron Covid variant.

The Hungary-based carrier said it expected an improvement in spring. Omicron hit trading late in the third quarter and Wizz said it expected “demand in January, February and part of March to be impacted by ongoing travel uncertainty”.

“Despite the short-term headwinds, we are cautiously optimistic for a continued recovery into spring and near-full utilisation from summer onwards,” said chief executive József Váradi.

“We continue to back our strategic choices to invest in our fleet, grow our bases and routes, and lower our unit cost in order to take advantage of the market created in the wake of Covid-19.”

Third-quarter revenue rose 172.5% to €408.4m as the airline carried 7.8m passengers, compared with 2.2m a year earlier when travel restrictions were in force.