Wizz Air Holdings PLC on Thursday downgraded its bottom line guidance due to difficult operating conditions, though it reported a swing to half-year profit.

Wizz Air shares fell 5.2% to 1,766.94 pence each on Thursday morning in London.

The Budapest-based budget airline said in the six months to September 30, it swung to a pretax profit of €450.2 million from a loss of €389.7 million a year prior. Revenue jumped 39% to €3.05 billion from €2.19 billion.

The load factor improved to 92.6% from 86.9%, but was below 95% of the pre-pandemic first half of financial 2020, which ended in September 2019.

Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi said: ‘This summer we delivered significantly improved operational performance compared to last year. There were fewer flight cancellations, and overall fleet utilisation and productivity increased year on year. Our revenue and profit results reflect the higher volumes we now operate and the enormous amount of work and investment over the past three years.

‘In the first half, we saw very strong load factor recovery, as demand remained robust, including in new markets that are maturing steadily and where we continue to add frequencies and improve our schedule. The Middle East route network is tracking a similar maturity profile to the development of our CEE network, supporting our decision to continue to invest in, add to and evolve capacity there.’

Looking ahead, the company expects a load factor of above 90% in the current financial year 2024 ending March 31, with net profit of €350 million to €400 million, a downgrade from June, when it guided for net profit of up to €450 million, and compared to a loss of €564.6 million in financial 2023.

‘This guidance reflects our expectations for H2 F24 in the context of the ongoing macro environment uncertainty and continuing difficult operating conditions, from an infrastructure and security perspective,’ Wizz Air said.

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