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Budget carrier Wizz Air booked a deeper third-quarter loss as the pandemic continued to put pressure on travel markets.
Net losses for the three months through December amounted to €267.5 million, compared to year-on-year losses of €116.4 million.
Revenue jumped to €408.4 million, from €149.9 million, but expenses increased as the company prepared for a return to more normal conditions.
Chief executive Jozsef Varadi said the losses came as Covid-19 continued to pressure demand and the airline ramped up its workforce, fleet, bases and routes to support a path to a pre-Covid-19 cost structure by late Spring 2022.
'Our liquidity remained strong and closed at €1.4 billion at the end of December 2021,' Varadi said.
Looking forward, he said Wizz Air was anticipating its operating loss for the fourth quarter to be slightly higher than the operating loss of €213.6 million for the third.
'The emergence of the Omicron variant and renewed travel restrictions impacted our trading performance late in the quarter and we expect demand in January, February and part of March to be impacted by ongoing travel uncertainty,' he said.
'Despite the short-term headwinds, we are cautiously optimistic for a continued recovery into Spring and near-full utilisation from Summer onwards'