Wizz Air has this week announced a return to profitability for the financial year 2024, and has been compensated for operational disruption caused by GTF engines.
The airline has laid out it’s financial numbers, which has shown considerable improvements compared to 2023.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
The Numbers from Wizz Air…
For the financial year 2024, Wizz Air‘s highlights in terms of numbers are as follows:
- 62m passengers handled in FY2024 – 21.4% higher than 2023 (51.07m).
- 5.07bn EUR in revenue – 30.2% higher than 2023 (3.89bn EUR).
- Operating profit – 437.9m EUR – 2023 = Loss of 466.8m EUR.
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What we can see from those three highlights is that Wizz Air has returned to profit.
And it is a strong figure too.
The airline noted that due to the disruption in Israel and Ukraine, this has cost them 80 million EUR.
Commenting on the results was the airline CEO József Váradi:
“Sustained healthy demand for air travel across our markets was a defining feature of F24, signalling that the surge witnessed post pandemic has evolved into a longer-term trend in consumer behaviour.”
“Wizz Air has been strongly positioned for this trend as reflected in our performance for the year.”
“We placed a sharp focus on increasing utilisation, improving load factors and lowering unit costs (fuel and ex-fuel), and continued to invest in our operations.”
“Our efforts saw us carry a record number of passengers during the year, return to profitability and reduce financial leverage while maintaining our total cash position.”
“We responded rapidly to challenges during the year by flexing resources and commercial
arrangements, and quickly redeploying capacity where needed, as renewed geopolitical instability emerged.”
“We also faced unprecedented supply chain disruption due to mandatory engine material inspections affecting our neo aircraft fleet.”
Despite these challenges, our 8,000-strong workforce delivered an exceptional service, reflected across operational, financial and people metrics.”
“I would like to thank each one of our employees for embodying the WIZZ spirit through their perseverance, dedication, passion and commitment in F24.”
How Affected is the Airline by The GTF Disruption?
Throughout the last financial year, Wizz Air has gone through some disruption with it’s aircraft.
Their Airbus aircraft are powered by the Pratt & Whitney GTF engines.
These engines have had to undergo maintenance and checks following issues observed.
Furthermore, the airline gave an overall update on where things are in terms of the operational disruption.
Wizz Air confirmed that they have received compensation from Pratt & Whitney, although this is disclosed.
45 aircraft were on the ground by the end of the financial year 2024.
This rose to 47 as of May 17.
It is understood that this is expected to increase to 50 by the end of the first half of financial year 2025.
Váradi commented on this, saying:
“While some of the external challenges we experienced throughout F24, including groundings due to GTF engine inspections and geopolitical instability, are expected to persist in the coming year, we have proven that our model is agile, highly resilient and well positioned to mitigate the impact of these ongoing issues.”
“This includes the current scale and diversity of our network, which means we are incredibly well placed to react quickly to issues as they arise.”
“While our capacity expectations for the year have been moderated in response to these changes in the operating environment, new aircraft deliveries persist, and our efforts to drive productivity and utilisation continue to deliver results.”
“As we enter F25, demand for air travel remains robust, with no sign of abating in the near term, supporting a higher yield environment as capacity across the whole industry remains constrained.”
Overall…
In conclusion, things have definitely improved for Wizz Air.
Furthermore, they have been able to mitigate external factors well, including the turnaround back to profitability.
Looking ahead, all eyes will be on how the financial year 2025 will perform for the airline.
As we get further into the Summer season, now is the time for the airline to capitalise as much as they can.
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