Wizz Air grows passenger numbers amid route expansion
Low cost airline Wizz Air has posted a 19 per cent increase in passenger numbers for June as a string of new routes continues to drive growth.
Read more: Wizz Air profits rise as it expects higher fuel costs to push up 2020 earnings
The Budapest-based company also increased its average capacity by 1.7 percentage points on the previous year to 95 per cent.
The figures build on a recent period of growth for the budget airline, which has opened dozens of new routes to Poland, Austria and Georgia.
Wizz Air said it has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus to buy 20 new aircraft, which will be delivered from 2023 onwards.
Shares in Wizz Air ticked up marginally following the announcement.
The Hungarian airline hit the higher end of its profit forecasts last year, despite a sharp drop in earnings over the winter. However, its profit margin dropped by 1.4 percentage points as increased fuel prices hurt its cost per seat per kilometre.
The FTSE 250 firm has said it expects robust demand over the summer, and has forecast net profit of between €320m (£286m) and €350m in 2020.
Wizz Air today said it has reduced its CO2 emissions per passenger by 2.9 per cent on last year.
Irish low-cost rival Ryanair also posted an increase in passenger numbers, with traffic growing 13 per cent to 14.2m customers in June.
Read more: Budget airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air report soaring passenger numbers in April.
Ryanair said it operated almost 78,000 scheduled flights in June.