Wizz Air has reported a loss of €105.4 million ($114.8 million) loss in its quarterly results for the three months to December 2023, against a €33.5 million ($36.4 million) profit in the same period a year prior. The airline reported a 16% in its quarterly operating loss for the period, increasing from €155.5 million ($169.3 million) in 2022 to €180.4 million ($196.4 million) in 2023.
The airline said that the lower load factor and demand had been affected by the Israel-Hamas conflict, which caused 6% of planned capacity to be cancelled. Wizz Air is restarting some operations into Tel Aviv, Israel from Bucharest, Budapest, Krakow, London, and Rome in March, 2024 following a comprehensive security analysis.
Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi commented on the situation: "Despite the associated flight cancellations and redeployment of capacity at short notice, we managed operations well, delivering improved on-time performance and significantly better utilisation, year-on-year."
As of the report's release, Wizz Air had 33 aircraft on the ground due to GTF engine related issues, and it is expecting approximately 40 aircraft to be grounded at the end of F24. Varadi commented: "We continue to actively manage the GTF engine issues to minimise the impact on our operations."
However, the airline has reported a 16.8% increase in revenue for the period, rising to €1.06bn ($1.15 bn) as well as passengers increasing by 22.1% to 15.1 million. Load factor also increased by 0.3 percentage points to 87.6%. Total cash balance sits at €1.6bn ($1.7bn). Wizz Air has repaid its initial €500 million bond that matured in January 2024 with cash. The outstanding balance on the PDP facility at the end of December 2023 stands at €235.7 million. Wizz Air's net debt at the end of December 2023 was €4.243bn up from €3.892bn at the end of March 2023, while the company's leverage ratio decreased from 29.0 at year end to 5.2.
From the final quarter in 2022 to the final quarter in 2023, Wizz Air's fleet increased from 177 to 195 aircraft. The carrier took delivery of nine new A320neos during the reporting period, which were financed through eight sale-leasebacks and one JOLCO. Wizz noted that it had documented thirteen lease extensions, four of which are A321ceo with 230 seats and the rest are 180 seater A320ceos. The lease extensions range between two and four years and have been secured at both discounted and original lease rates. "We have agreed to dry lease three former Wizz Air A320ceos at terms equivalent to original lease," said the airline.
Varadi commented: "As we look towards fiscal year '25 we are on track to operate flat ASK capacity year-on-year, supported by new aircraft deliveries, lease extensions, third party aircraft and driving higher utilisation.