Varadi on Wednesday (26 January) said he was "cautiously optimistic" for a continued recovery into spring and summer; his comments came as Wizz revealed a deeper third-quarter (three months to 31 December 2021) operating loss of €214 million, up 50% from €142 million during the same period in 2020.
Varadi said Wizz’s steeper loss owed to the effect of Omicron travel restrictions on demand, and the carrier’s investment in "ramping up" its workforce, fleet, bases and route in readiness for a return to pre-Covid levels of operation – and associated costs – by "late-spring 2022".
However, he warned struggles stemming from Omicron would continue into Wizz’s fourth quarter, and would likely result in a "slightly higher" operating loss than seen in Q3. "Throughout the third quarter, we continued to stimulate demand with pricing, while staying agile in adjusting capacity that is not cash-contribution positive," said Varadi.
"The emergence of the Omicron variant and renewed travel restrictions impacted our trading performance late in the quarter and we expect demand in January, February and part of March to be impacted by ongoing travel uncertainty."
Wizz’s Q3 passenger carryings increased by nearly 250% year-on-year to 7.8 million, up from 2.3 million a year earlier, highlighting the broadly more positive travel environment compared with the autumn and winter months of 2020. Load factor increased by 14 percentage points from 63.1% to 77.1%.
