Wizz Air could approach the UK government for support to shore up its finances during the coronavirus crisis.
The budget carrier revealed on Tuesday (21 April) it is eligible for support under the government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility.
Earlier this month, easyJet secured £600 million from the fund in the form of a commercial loan to further boost its liquidity.
In a short stock market statement, Wizz said it had received confirmation it is an eligible issuer under the UK government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility.
The carrier added: "Wizz Air remains focused on further strengthening the company’s robust balance sheet and excellent liquidity with €1.5 billion cash at the end of March 2020, one of the strongest in the airline industry."
It comes after Wizz last week set out further cost-saving measures, including making nearly one fifth of its workforce redundant.
Chief executive Jozsef Varadi, the airline’s board of directors and its senior offices have meanwhile taken a 22% pay cut, and its pilots, cabin crew and office staff a 14% cut.
Wizz is also furloughing a number of staff, and will dispose of more than 30 older, leased aircraft over the next three years.
Its March traffic fell by more than a third year-on-year, and Wizz is now expecting its full-year profits to come in between €270-€280 million, some €70-€80 million down on its pre-Covid-19 forecast after opting to take the hit for March, April and May in its full-year 2020 results (to 31 March) rather than have the impact carry over to its full-year 2021 balance sheet.