Wizz Air disappoints with first-quarter performance
It's been a difficult year for Wizz Air. Engine problems, operational uncertainties and a loss of investor confidence
have caused the company's share price to collapse over the past year.
Investors had high hopes for Thursday morning's first quarterly report, but unfortunately,
Wizz Air could not deliver good news this time either.
During this period, the airline reported an operating profit of €27 million, which is significantly lower than the €87 million expected by analysts. This figure also represents a significant decline of around 38.3% compared to the same period last year.
Highlights:
- Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) capacity 11.0% higher in Q1 F26 vs last year.
- Carried 17.0 million passengers in Q1 F26 (vs 15.3 million in Q1 F24), with a load factor of 91.1%.
- Total unit revenue (RASK) increased by 2.1% to €4.41 cents with ticket RASK up by 2.5% to €2.47 cents and ancillary RASK up by 1.6% to €1.94 cents yoy.
- EBITDA increased by 9.3% to €300.2 million, with margin expansion to 21%.
- Operating profit down to €27.5 million (vs €44.6 million in Q1 F25), impacted by higher airport, handling and en-route charges as well as depreciation costs and GTF engine-related groundings.
- Net profit increased to €38.4 million, impacted by unrealised foreign exchange tailwind yoy.
- Issues relating to Pratt & Whitney's GTF engines led to 41 neo aircraft being grounded at the end of the quarter vs 46 aircraft this quarter last year.
In addition, the airline has pushed back the date on which the grounded planes will return by a year, to 2027.
As for expectations for the second quarter:
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Capacity: Q2 ASKs high single digits year-on-year
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Load factor: Flat (from >2 ppt year-on-year previously);
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Q2 Revenue per Available Seat Kilometre (RASK): Flat year-on-year
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Q2 Cost per Available Seat Kilometre (CASK): Fuel CASK: down high-single digits. Ex-fuel unit trends expected to improve vs Q1
Cover photo: Shutterstock
