Wizz Air

Wizz Air Hungary Ltd

IATA ICAO Callsign W6[1] WZZ WIZZ
Founded	September 2003
Operating bases	Belgrade Bucharest Budapest (HQ) Chişinău Cluj-Napoca Craiova Debrecen Gdańsk Iași Katowice Košice Kutaisi Kyiv-Zhuliany Lublin Poznań Prague Riga Sibiu Skopje Sofia Târgu Mureș Timișoara Tuzla Vilnius Warsaw-Chopin Wrocław
Subsidiaries	None
Fleet size	73
Destinations	117
Company slogan	Now we can all fly.
Parent company	Wizz Air Holdings Plc
Headquarters	Budapest, Hungary
Key people	William Franke, (Chairman) József Váradi, (CEO) Diederik Pen, (COO)
Revenue	€1,227.3 million (2015)[2]
Operating income	€167.3 million (2015)[2]
Net income	€183.2 million (2015)[2]
Website	wizzair.com

Wizz Air Hungary Ltd. (Hungarian: Wizz Air Hungary Légiközlekedési Kft.) is a Hungarian^[3] low-cost airline with its head office in Budapest. The airline typically uses secondary airports serving many cities across Europe, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.^[4] It has the largest fleet of any Hungarian airline, although it is not a flag carrier, and currently serves 35 countries.^[4] Its Jersey based parent company, Wizz Air Holdings Plc, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

The airline was established in September 2003. The lead investor is Indigo Partners, an American private equity firm^[5] specializing in transportation investments. The first flight was made from Katowice International Airport on 19 May 2004.^[6] The airline's CEO and chairman is József Váradi, former CEO of Malév Hungarian Airlines. The company is registered in Pest County (Hungary).^[7]

In 2011, Wizz Air carried 11 million passengers (15% more than in 2010), including 4.2 million passengers on Polish routes (only 2% more than in 2010). Recently Wizz opened new bases in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. However, Poland is still the largest market for Wizz Air.^[8]

On 4 October 2012, Wizz Air launched a new cabin bag policy to encourage customers to bring smaller baggage on-board following a successful month-long trial on the London Luton and Katowice route. This means that a smaller (42x32x25cm) cabin bag can be taken on board for free; larger cabin bags (56x45x25cm) would incur a fee varying between €10 or €30.^[9]

On 25 February 2015 Wizz Air started trading on London Stock Exchange.^[10]

Corporate affairs

Head office

The current Head office can be found in Laurus offices, Budapest since March 2016. The new building has 5 floors, which gives the company more space than any of the former headquarters.^[11] Previously, its head office was at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport.^[12]

Financial performance

While attempting to hasten SkyEurope's demise in June 2009, Wizz Air claimed it had been "profitable for several years".^[13] However, as a private company it is not required to publish its financial accounts - annual reports are still available. In November 2009, it emerged that Wizz Air was significantly loss-making and had never made a profit while delaying the pay-back of €32 million of debt by five years.^[14] Losses since commencing operations total €78 million, which, in 2009, fueled suggestions that the airline would file for bankruptcy.^[15] Since then Wizz Air reported profits in 2012,^[16] in 2013, in 2014^[17] and in 2015.^[2] Wizz Air has the second lowest CASK (cost per available seat km) among European airlines.^[17]

Subsidiaries

As of April 2015, Wizz Air had created subsidiaries in three countries, but none still exist:

• Wizz Air Ukraine was the Ukrainian division of Wizz Air, which had its own air operator's certificate and operated from Kyiv Zhuliany International Airport and Lviv International Airport.^[18] As result of the 2014 situation in Ukraine, Wizz Air Ukraine was terminated on 20 April 2015. Some routes to and from Kyiv were taken over by Wizz Air itself while all others ceased.^[19]
• Wizz Air Bulgaria^[20] was Wizz Air's Bulgarian subsidiary based at Sofia Airport. It since ceased operations.^[20] However, Wizz Air itself still maintains base operations there.
• Wizz Air Romania^[21] was a planned subsidiary to be based at Timișoara Traian Vuia International Airport. However, this sub-company never started operations^[21] and Wizz Air itself inaugurated a base there instead.

Operations

Cabin of a Wizz Air Airbus A320-200

Wizz Air prefers to land at smaller or secondary airports to reduce costs and fees. The airline also has a buy on board service called Wizz Café and a shopping service called Wizz Boutique.^[22]

Destinations

Wizz Air Airbus A320-200 wearing the company's former livery

Wizz Air operates from 25 bases as of 2016.

Wizz Air started new services between Katowice and London Gatwick in 2008.^[23] In January 2008, flights started from Gdansk to Gothenburg, Bournemouth and Coventry. In summer 2008, Wizz Air restarted summer seasonal services from Katowice and Budapest to Girona, as well as a new weekly service to Girona from Gdańsk. Other summer services from Budapest are Heraklion, Corfu, Burgas and Varna; from Katowice to Crete-Heraklion and Burgas; and Warsaw to Corfu and Burgas. It also restarted its three-times-weekly service from London Luton Airport to Burgas. On 2 October 2008, Wizz Air announced that a number of its Romanian services would have increased frequency following an order for three Airbus A320 aircraft.^[24]

In February 2012, Wizz Air announced that it would start flights from Debrecen International Airport to London, beginning 18 June 2012.^[25] On 11 September 2012, Wizz Air announced new routes to and from Tel Aviv, Israel.^[26]

On 11 April 2013 Wizz Air announced that it would start flights from Budapest Airport to Baku's Heydar Aliyev International Airport starting from 17 June 2013.^[27] On 26 June 2013, Wizz Air announced entry into the Slovakian market, adding one new route from Košice International Airport starting from September 2013.^[28]

On June 26 2015 the airline opened its 19th base, at Tuzla International Airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina and deployed one new Airbus A320 aircraft at the airport. With one aircraft stationed at the airport, Wizz Air opened new routes to Memmingen (near Munich) and Torp (near Oslo), commencing on 26 June 2015, as well as to Hahn (near Frankfurt) and Skavsta (near Stockholm), commencing on 28 June 2015.^[29]

In February 2016 Wizz Air announced a new base at David the Builder Kutaisi International Airport (serving Kutaisi in Georgia).^[30]

Fleet

Wizz Air Airbus A320-200 in new livery

As of September 2016, the Wizz Air fleet consists of the following aircraft.:^[31]

Wizz Air fleet

Aircraft	In service	Orders	Passengers (Economy)	Notes
Airbus A320-200	63	8[32]	180	One in Budapest2024 Livery
Airbus A321-200	10	20[33]	230	One in Budapest2024 Livery
Airbus A321neo	—	110[34]	TBA	Deliveries from 2019 to 2024
Total	73	138

Accidents and incidents

• On 8 June 2013, Wizz Air Flight 3141, an Airbus A320-232 (registration HA-LWM) from Bucharest - Henri Coandă Airport, Romania to Rome-Ciampino, Italy, made an emergency landing^[35] at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport when the crew encountered problems getting one of the main undercarriage down and locked. The aircraft diverted to Fiumicino because of the longer runway, and firefighters applied foam after landing as a precautionary measure. The aircraft was evacuated using slides.^[36] Initial reports of injured passengers were denied by both Wizz Air and Rome Fiumicino Airport, who said some passengers requested medical checkups but reported no injuries.^[37]

See also

• Transport in Hungary

References

1. "IATA - Airline and Airport Code Search". iata.org. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
2. "Annual Report 2015" (PDF). Wizz Air. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
3. "Hungarian Wizz Air Opens Fifth Hub in Poland". Business Week. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
4. "Wizz Air". wizzair.com. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
5. "Ryanair meets Wizz Air: does a merger make sense?". 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
6. "Wizz Air celebrates 10th birthday and 69 million passengers". Anna Aero. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
7. "Company information (official registration number 13-09-096209)". Retrieved 16 February 2009.
8. "Wizz Air: 15% wzrost, w Polsce tylko 2%". Retrieved 2011-01-07.
9. "Wizz Air launches new cabin baggage policy". Wizz Air. 3 October 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
10. "LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE TODAY WELCOMED WIZZ AIR HOLDINGS PLC". 25 February 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
11. "." Wizz Air. Retrieved on 5 December 2016. "Wizz Air Hungary Ltd. Laurus Offices | Kőér street 2/A | Building B | H-1103 | Budapest, Hungary"
12. "Property development." (Archive, also see image) Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport. Retrieved on 11 December 2011.
13. "While SkyEurope is sinking, Wizz Air is stretching wings". 29 June 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
14. "Maďarský Wizz Air skončil v desaťmiliónovej strate". 2009-11-26.
15. "WizzAir suffers €9.5 million in losses". 27 November 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
16. "Why Europe's second lowest cost producer may be looking for fresh capital". 3 April 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
17. "CAPA Profiles Wizz Air: growing at 15% annually, one of Europe's most profitable airlines "not desperate" for IPO". 19 September 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
18. "WIZZ AIR UKRAINE ANNOUNCES 3RD LOW FARES BASE". wizzair.com. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
19. "WIZZ AIR FURTHER RESTRUCTURES UKRAINIAN OPERATIONS". wizzair.com. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
20. "Wizz Air Bulgaria - ch-aviation.com". ch-aviation. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
21. "Wizz Air Romania - ch-aviation.com". ch-aviation. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
22. "Wizz Café and Wizz Boutique." Wizz Air. Retrieved on 3 February 2012.
23. "Wizz Air launches London Gatwick – Katowice flight". 2007-08-09. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
24. "Wizz Air adds three new A320 aircraft and doubles capacity in Romania – 15 new routes in the next six months".
25. "Wizz Air begins flights between Debrecen and London from 18 June 2012".
26. "Wizz Air Launches Low Fares to/from Israel".
27. "WIZZ AIR ENTERS AZERBAIJAN". wizzair.com. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
28. "Wizz Air will start the route Košice-London in September! - Airport Košice". airportkosice.sk. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
29. "Wizz Air to establish its 19th base at Tuzla in Bosna-Herzegovina". Retrieved 16 April 2016.
30. "Wizz Air opens base at Kutaisi International Airport". Agenda.ge. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
31. "Wizz Air Fleet Details and History". Planespotters. 5 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
32. http://www.airbus.com/company/market/orders-deliveries
33. http://www.airbus.com/company/market/orders-deliveries
34. "Flugzeugbauer sichert sich Milliardenauftrag" [Aircraft manufacturer secures [multi-]billion order]. Handelsblatt (in German). Handelsblatt GmbH. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
35. "Wizzair W6 3141 Bucharest – Rome emergency landing". planecrashes.org. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
36. Andrew Frye (8 June 2013). "Wizz Air Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Rome". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
37. "Wizz Air jet makes safe emergency landing in Rome". Yahoo News. 8 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2015.

External links

Media related to Wizz Air at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (English)