Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ) reported a recovery in its fiscal second quarter after a difficult start to the year, with management saying stronger bookings and controlled costs helped lift profitability despite higher fuel prices.
Chief Executive Officer József Váradi described the first half of fiscal 2027 as “a tale of two quarters.” The first quarter was affected by a fuel price spike, geopolitical events and capacity reductions, while revenue improved in the second quarter and fuel hedges helped cushion higher costs, he said.
Management said revenue rose 20% to €2.29 billion, while passengers and seats increased 27%. Chief Financial Officer Veronika Špaňárová said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, operating profit and net profit after tax were all higher than a year earlier, although she did not provide amounts for those measures on the call.
Unit revenue improves as network changes
Chief Commercial Officer Ian Malin said revenue per available seat kilometer, or RASK, declined 8.1% year over year in the first quarter but returned to growth in the second. Špaňárová put the second-quarter increase at 0.5%, ahead of management’s guidance.
Malin said stronger bookings in August and September drove the improvement after a neutral July, and that the trend continued into October. Adjusted for changes in flight length, however, RASK declined 2.5% year over year. Malin said the decline was anticipated and linked mainly to the shortening and consolidation of Wizz Air’s network.
Váradi said the airline is focused on maximizing unit revenue rather than filling seats at any cost. In the current environment, he said, accepting a lower load factor in exchange for higher fares can be advantageous because carrying additional passengers also adds costs.
For the fourth quarter, Malin said bookings remained well below 20%, limiting visibility. On the bookings in place, RASK was running in the high single digits above its position at the same point a year earlier, he said.
Fleet transition adds costs
Špaňárová said first-half unit costs excluding fuel declined 0.3%, despite a 7% reduction in average flight length. Excluding items the company considers transitional, underlying nonfuel unit costs fell about 4%, she said.
Those temporary costs will weigh on the second half. Depreciation associated with returning older aircraft is expected to rise by €110 million year over year in the period, Špaňárová said. Income from sale-and-leaseback transactions and compensation is also expected to decline by €170 million.
Váradi said he expects full-year nonfuel unit costs to rise by a mid-single-digit percentage, driven by transition costs, while underlying operating costs are expected to be at least flat. Management expects the transition costs to moderate in fiscal 2028.
Nearly 80% of Wizz Air’s fleet has transitioned from older CEO aircraft to newer NEO models, which Váradi said offer a fuel-burn advantage of around 20%. The company is targeting nonfuel unit costs of 3 euro cents by fiscal 2030.
Capacity, liquidity and market opportunities
Wizz Air ended the period with €2.39 billion in cash and a 12-month liquidity ratio of 37.6%, Špaňárová said. Váradi said the airline was 82% hedged for the winter, with 51% of the following summer and 41% of the next financial year hedged.
Váradi said third-quarter capacity would rise 12% by available seat kilometers and 19% by seats, with a similar pattern expected in the fourth quarter. Much of the growth comes from returning aircraft to service after engine-related groundings, rather than acquiring additional aircraft, he said.
For the first half of fiscal 2028, Váradi projected capacity growth of approximately 10% to 15%, depending on whether it is measured by seats or available seat kilometers.
Malin said Wizz Air has expanded in markets where competitors have reduced capacity, including Moldova and Italy. He also announced a new domestic service between Cluj and Bucharest in Romania, with flights starting Dec. 18 and fares beginning at 199 lei, or about €36.
Addressing recent false bomb threats, Váradi said Wizz Air had been involved in 14 incidents over a few weeks, with two flights diverted. He said the events had not caused major disruption to the business and called for greater European coordination on aviation security.
About Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ)
Wizz Air operates a fleet of over 250 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft. A team of dedicated aviation professionals delivers superior service and very low fares, making Wizz Air the preferred choice of 63.4 million passengers in our 2025 financial year. Wizz Air is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker WIZZ. Wizz Air has also been recognized as the “Most Sustainable Low-Cost Airline” between 2021-2025 by World Finance Sustainability Awards. In 2025, Wizz Air topped the major airlines’ emissions ranking, as presented by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, thanks to its work reducing emissions intensity.
