In the six months to 30 September, Wizz lost €384.3 million, compared to €120.9 million in the same six months last year. Margins slipped from 18.7% last year to 9.9% as competition increased.

In the six-month period, Wizz Air passenger numbers rose to 26.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 14 million. Average load factor increased 11.5 percentage points to 86.9%.

Wizz Air chief executive Jozsef Varadi said: “Wizz Air delivered strong results in the second quarter of the fiscal year after a difficult first quarter operationally.” He said revenue in the six-month period was “materially higher” than pre-Covid, up 31%.

Wizz Air now makes more money from ancillary sales than the basic air fare, with ancillary sales in the six months totalling €1.01 billion, up 117%.

Earnings in July, August and September were “extremely positive” at €374 million, he said, driven by recovering load factors and improved yields.

Varadi said a new company record of operating 859 flights in one day in September had been set. He added the airline’s winter capacity would be 35% higher than in 2019.

Wizz Air said it had repatriated one of its aircraft from Ukraine, but that three remained there. They were in good technical shape, it said.

The carrier exercised purchase rights for 75 Airbus A321neo aircraft during the period, “locking in highly competitive aircraft prices”.