- Routes suffer due to Israel-Hamas war
- GTF engine troubles continue
- Shares down 35% over the past year
Shares in Wizz Air (WIZZ) were down over 6% to £19.06 in morning trading as the European budget carrier reported a loss for the three months ending 31 December 2023.
Its net loss for the period of €105.4 million compares with a profit of €33.4 million in the same year-ago period.
The airline had to cancel around 6% of its planned third-quarter capacity in early October due to the Israel-Hamas war.
The company said: ‘The conflict caused a spillover effect to seasonal demand for travel to the nearby markets of Jordan and Egypt, whose capacity was partially also redeployed, accounting for an additional three per cent of redeployed capacity.’
Wizz hopes to restart flights to Israel with routes from Bucharest, Budapest, Krakow, London, Rome and Sofia to Tel Aviv from the start of this March.
GTF WOES CONTINUE
The company also gave an update regarding its GTF engines with troubles continuing.
It had 13 aircraft grounded due to GTF engine-related matters at the end of December, rising to 33 aircraft as of 24 January and it expects that number to rise to 40 aircraft by the end of its financial year in March.
Wizz Air sees 21% increase in passengers but GTF engine issues weigh
INCREASE IN MARKET SHARE
There were some positive aspects to the trading update, however, with Wizz growing its market share to 26%, an increase of 1% compared to the same quarter a year earlier.
The firm said it was the number one airline in three of its core central eastern European (CEE) markets – Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria.
The company reported record traffic of 15.1 million passengers in the third quarter compared to 12.4 million passengers in the same year ago period, with a marginal increase in its load factor to 87.6%.
Total third-quarter revenue jumped 16.8% to €1.06 billion compared to €911.7 million in the same year ago period.
Chief executive József Váradi was upbeat about the group's outlook: ‘While financial performance in the last quarter was materially affected by the suspension and reallocation of Israel capacity, we maintain our expectations for full year 2024 net income, which are underpinned by positive trading at the start of the fourth quarter, reduced capacity in the same period, and OEM compensation for the grounded aircraft.’
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