Wizz Air books EUR 116 mln Q3 loss as pandemic hits passenger volume

Photo by Wizz Air

Hungarian low-fare carrier Wizz Air booked a EUR 116.4 million loss in the third quarter of its business year started April 1 as passenger volume fell sharply because of pandemic restrictions, an earnings report published early Thursday shows, according to a report by state news wire MTI.

Passenger numbers dropped 77.3% year-on-year to 2,268,436 in the three months to the end of December.

Load factor was down 29.4 percentage points at 63.1%.

Revenue declined 76.5% to EUR 149.9 mln.

CEO József Váradi said Wizz Air "continued to focus on strengthening its market position and protecting liquidity" during the period and remains focused "on optimizing our cost structure and cash burn".

Wizz Air's cash balance stood at EUR 1.2 billion at the end of the quarter.

"Wizz Air is even better positioned to deal with the uncertainties associated with COVID-19 and now with vaccinations being rolled out across our key markets we believe 2021 will be a transition year out of the COVID-19 crisis," Váradi said.

"The initiatives we are implementing in our business have a very singular focus: enabling the Company to emerge from the COVID-19 context as a structural winner," he added.

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