Wizz "to scale back UK ambitions as shares plunge"
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2024 5:24 pm
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/20 ... es-plunge/
The budget airline Wizz Air is planning to limit its growth in Britain after weakening demand for flights sent its share price plunging almost 17pc.
Wizz – a major rival to Michael O’Leary’s Ryanair – became the latest European airline to reveal lacklustre results on Wednesday, with profits almost wiped out in the three months through June, sending the stock to its biggest decline since the start of Covid lockdowns in March 2020.
József Váradi, Wizz chief executive, said sluggish sales in the UK and Western Europe will lead the airline to reassess where it stations new jets next summer. Deployment is likely to be skewed more to Central and Eastern Europe, where demand remains robust.
Britain, where Wizz competes with carriers including Ryanair, easyJet and Jet2 in the intensely competitive low-cost market, may get some additional flight times and perhaps a few more routes, he said, but is unlikely to benefit from the opening of further bases.
