Martin Placek
Research expert covering transportation and electronics
Wizz Air - statistics & facts
Wizz Air is an ultra-low cost carrier (ULCC) and the largest airline in Central and Eastern Europe. Founded in 2003, Wizz Air is headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. It has direct flights to 200 airports in 50 countries, including destinations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Financial performance during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a force majeure situation in the European aviation industry. As a result Wizz Air's revenue fell sharply to only 793 million euros in 2021. Until then, the company's total revenue grew year by year, peaking in 2020. In 2022, the Hungarian budget airline reported for the second time in a decade of growth a net loss of 642.5 million million euros. Despite this, Wizz Air remains among the world's busiest low-cost carriers in terms of passenger traffic.European LLCs leading the world
More and more low-cost carriers (LCCs) have attempted to enter the market in recent years, capturing nearly half of the European market. Among them, Ryanair, EasyJet, and Wizz Air are the leading LCCs in the region. As Wizz Air’s main competitor, Ryanair had total revenue amounting to 1.6 billion euros during the pandemic. On the other hand, EasyJet carried 29.5 million passengers in 2021, which was almost 7.8 million more than the number of passengers carried by Wizz Air in that year.
