Wizz Air has posted record profitability for the first quarter of the year with 18% passenger growth and a 9.8% increase in revenue. Ticket revenues increased 3.0% to €212.0 million, with ancillary income up by 20.8% to €152.9 million. Reported net profit (IFRS) was a record €50.7 million in Q1, a year on year increase of 54.2%. Underlying net profit was a record €38.6 million in Q1, a year on year increase of 13.9%. Total cash at the end of June 2016 was €827.7 million of which €707.1 million was classified as free cash.
Wizz Air’s total unit costs fell by 10.0% to 3.19 euro cents per ASK in Q1. Ex-fuel unit costs increased 2.3% year on year to 2.26 euro cents per ASK in Q1 entirely due to foreign currency gains in the prior year on prepayments returned on aircraft deliveries. Fleet expansion with three A321 aircraft added during the quarter, increasing fleet to 70 aircraft at the end of Q1.
Passengers carried increased 17.9% to 5.8 million with load factor up by 0.7 percentage points to 89.5 per cent in Q1. Route network expansion with 29 new routes announced in the first quarter.