Wizz Air forecasts €652m loss after Covid rules and war in Ukraine dent air travel demand

Budget airline Wizz Air said it anticipates a net loss of between €652m and €632m, as air travel demand was restrained by Covid and war in Ukraine.

The airline anticipated a reported net loss for the full year while its fourth quarter operating result is expected to be within a range of a loss of between €210m and €190m.

Wizz Air is eyeing an approaching busy summer period and said it had been “encouraged by demand trends in recent weeks.”

It expected booking for the summer to “build significantly after Easter” due to a “shorter booking horizon.”

“Distressingly, the war in Ukraine dented demand for air travel and destabilised commodity prices across the globe,” József Váradi, Wizz Air chief executive, said.

“Despite these developments we are starting to see recovery take shape as we move closer to the summer of 2022,” he said.

While Covid still impacted the business in the period, the “benign nature” of the Omicron variant helped governments ease travel rules across the majority of Wizz Air’s network, the airline boss added.

Wizz Air said it would “continue to monitor the situation” with regards to Ukraine. While flights to and from Ukraine, Moldova and Russia remain suspended, the airline said it had “successfully reallocated the affected capacity to other parts of our network.”