The low-cost airline Wizz Airthird in Italy for the number of passengers carried, will add four Airbus A321neo additional seats in the country from March 2024, which will increase its seat supply by 1.5 million.
Next summer, the number of planes positioned in Italy will amount to 30 (14 to Rome Fiumicino, 8 in Milan Malpensa, 8 in other airports). Of the four additional planes in Italy, three will go to Rome and only one to Milan. “For now, Rome offers better growth margins”, explains in an interview with Corriere della Sera, József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air. “ The offer in Fiumicino was more reduced during Covid than in Milan, there is a gap to fill there. » But Milan Linate offers great prospects in the light of the Ita operationLufthansa and the release of takeoff and landing slots. As a reminder, the German group confirmed on May 25, 2023 that it had entered into an agreement with the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) to acquire a minority stake of 41% in the Italian national airline ITA Airways. “Ita and Lufthansa, once the operation is finalized, will have 69% of the take-off and landing rights at Milan airport and this will obviously constitute a monopoly problem. I think at least 20% of the slots, and maybe even more, should go to competitors and we want to have a share of that.”, believes József Váradi. The boss of Witz Air finally mentioned the Airbus A320s stuck in Ukraine because of the Russian invasion
During a meeting with analysts a few days ago at the Budapest headquarters, Wizz Air management explained that from 2011 to today, 76% of passengers travel with them for family reasons, 22% for vacations and 2% for professional reasons. And regarding the projects for Italy, the objective is to increase the fleet positioned at 35-50 units by 2030. The first Airbus A321XLR (47 on order), capable of traveling long distances, should arrive from 2024, ultimately leading to new destinations with development beyond the Middle East, in Africa and the Asian subcontinent.
According to Barclays analysts for the 2024 financial year (April 2023-March 2024), Wizz is expected to record 5.4 billion euros in turnover and 328 million in profits, compared to more than half a billion in losses in the during the preceding twelve months.
