Wizz Air flies high

The CEO of Hungarian low-cost carrier (LCC) Wizz Air came to Warsaw last week to present the firm's plans for the Polish market. Jozsef Varadi emphasized Wizz Air's strength in the market - at the moment it is the largest operating LCC to and from Poland. He also said that the airline was the regional leader - among both low-cost and traditional carriers - in terms of passenger numbers.

"We served 4.2 million passengers in 2007 and forecast serving 5.8 million passengers in 2008, while LOT is predicting to serve 4.7 million passengers this year and CSA Czech Airlines, which is the biggest legacy carrier in the region, will have 5.5 million passengers this year," boasted Varadi. He also noted that former LCC Centralwings' exit from the sector had given his firm a boost.

"After Centralwings recently switched to charter flights, we were able to fill in the routes left behind," explained Varadi.

The airline currently has a total of nine bases, four of which - Katowice, Gdańsk, Poznań and Warsaw - are located in Poland. Wizz Air operates a total of over 120 routes and its fleet consists of 19 Airbus A320 planes which are, on average, three years old. It has also signed a contract with Airbus to purchase additional jets, expanding its fleet to 42 in 2011 and 82 in 2014. 

Wizz Air is the only LCC operating in Poland that does not reveal its financial results and Varadi was  reluctant to discuss them. "As a private company it is a deliberate choice not to disclose our results. We see it as an advantage over our competitors," replied Varadi.

He noted, however, that the financial year which ended in April had been Wizz Air's second year in the black and that, depending on macro-economic conditions, the firm expected to maintain an operating profit. The only concrete number Varadi mentioned was the company cash reserves, which amount to €80 (zł.266) million.