Wizz Air is reported half year revenue of €1.379bn – a 20% increase compared to the year-ago period. Ticket revenues increased 25.3% to €858.6 million. Profit for the period rose by 1.2% to €292.2 million, with the profit margin down by 3.9 percentage points to 21.2%. Ancillary revenues grew 12.1% to €520.5 million. Airline unit revenues were unchanged at €4.27 per available seat kilometre (ASK).
Costs measured in CASK, excluding fuel, rose by 1.1% to €2.25, including fuel is was up by 6.4% to €3.33.
Wizz carried 18.8 million passengers in the six months to end September 2018 – a 20% increase over the prior-year period. Load factor rose slightly by 0.8 percentage points to 93.6%.
“The arrival of game-changing, well-priced A321 NEO aircraft into our fleet in the fourth quarter, financed at very attractive levels, will enable Wizz Air to increase its cost advantage even further,” said chief executive József Váradi. “We are delivering on our mission to be the undisputed cost leader among European LCCs… As Wizz Air continues to drive its cost base even lower and profitably stimulate traffic, this advantage allows us to capture an even greater share of our market and extend our reach. We anticipate the capacity rationalisation resulting from this increased pressure on our competitors will result in a better yield environment.”
He added: “On the back of the rising fuel price in the first half the Company has trimmed second half capacity growth to 14% (previously 18%) and as a result second half yields are responding well, tracking 7% higher than last year with load factors also higher.
“The operating environment in the first half was particularly challenging for all European airlines with unprecedented disruptions caused by ATC strikes, slot constraints as well as heavily congested airports. These conditions also coincided with the Company’s ramp up of our new UK airline, Wizz Air UK, and an extensive delivery program of 17 aircraft in 17 weeks. Our operations are now back on track with October and November KPIs ahead of last year.”
The Wizz Air CEO says that the airline is starting to enjoy further cost improvements from its investment grade credit rated balance sheet with over €1.1 billion of free cash and confirmed that the company has recently signed letters of intent to finance 10 A321 NEO aircraft at rates “significantly better” than the company’s previous best deals.
Wizz Air’s full year net profit guidance is lowered to a range of between €270million and €300million.