Wizz Air reduces 2018 profit expectations

Wizz Air – whose main markets are in Central and Eastern Europe – has reduced its profit expectations for 2018 to EUR 270-300 million (US$309-343 million) from an earlier EUR 310 million forecast.

The airline said in a statement that one of the main reasons for the lower profit was s 23 percent increase in aviation fuel and a summer strike of airport employees which in itself cost the company EUR 80 million in lost revenues.

Other European budget airlines – including easyJet and Ryanair – have also reported that the summer strike and very busy airports have had a significant impact on their costs.

Wizz Air – which earlier planned to increase its capacity by 14 percent next year – has now scaled down that plan to 4 percent. The full-year forecast is even more pessimistic in light of the fact that in the first half of the year the airline had a profit of EUR 292.2 million – meaning they expect no or very little profit for the second half of the year.

Title image: MTI, Bea Kallos