Clear skies ahead as budget airlines on course for growth

It is uncertain, however, if the Hungarian WizzAir, which is currently the leader among budget airlines in Poland (in 2005 it carried 1.3 million passengers), will be able to keep its high position, as its main competitors - domestic Centralwings and Irish Ryanair - say they are about to launch an offensive. All budget airlines plan to increase the number of aircraft in their fleet, and believe that the year 2006 will see a boom in the carrier market. Ryanair hopes to carry 1.4 million people over the next 12 months, whereas WizzAir plans to increase the number of its passengers to 2 million. This would translate into growth of more than 53% and would secure the company the leading position for this year as well. Judging by the declarations of the six largest budget carriers, the market will continue to expand in 2006 by as many as 2.6 million passengers, but since the smaller players have not revealed their projections yet we could expect the market to double. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 4) A.F.