Wizz Air: Virus, what virus?

摘要

IN THE pool of despond that is European aviation Wizz Air projects a bright ray of optimism. Is it justified? Wizz Air has been impacted just as much as other airlines. In May it operated just 7% of the 2019 equivalent capacity. It has furloughed about 1'000 employees, 19% of the total, and cut salaries by an average of 14%. Yet CEO Jozsef Varadi is convinced that once lockdowns are eased and restrictions on air travel removed, demand for Wizz seats will rebound. His plan is for Wizz to operate at 80% of the previous year's capacity in the second quarter of FY 2021 (July-September) and to get close to 100% by the end of the year. There are particular characteristics of Wizz's demographics which support this outlook. Most of Wizz's key markets are in Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) where Covid-19 has been relatively mild but its core business also involves connecting these markets to the UK, the worst affected country in Europe. A high proportion of Wizz's clientele are young (the average age is 36) with a strong inclination to travel, and two thirds of demand is related to VFR which is probably more resilient than pure leisure. In some markets, notably the UK, potential demand may have been boosted by the savings built up during lockdown by normally high spendingyouth.