"Wizz Air, Italy at the top for growth. Ita-Lufthansa? Competition at risk"

'We want more slots at Linate, but the proposal emerging from the European Commission in the merger between Ita Airways and Lufthansa does not guarantee competition and does not break the monopoly. Giving up 11 slots is not enough, it should be at least twice as many. The commission must push in this direction. Under these conditions we are not staying'. The ceo of Wizz Air, Jozsef Váradi is waiting to see the final proposal that will come out of Brussels on 4 July without excluding anything, even a possible legal action. "We want to grow in Italy, we have many projects, there is not only Linate".

Wizz Air, which this year celebrates 20 years since its first flight (the Cracow-London and in Italy Cracow-Bergamo), in the summer months between June and August will grow with more capacity than its competitors by putting 17% more seats on the Italian market than in 2023, compared to 10% for Ryanair, 13% for Ita Airways and 2% more than easyJet according to Cirium, the platform specialised in the aviation sector. "We continue to invest and grow in Italy where we estimate to carry 21 million passengers this year compared to 18 million last year with a capacity growth of 19% in 2024, higher than Wizz Air's network average set to remain flat due to aircraft being grounded for engine inspections." No surge in airfares, for which Varadi expects increases of no more than 5%, despite the fast recovery from the Covid crisis of the Italian market compared to other European countries: for the summer, capacity is expected to be 15% higher than before the pandemic.

Second in importance, the Italian market is also proving to be profitable ("we make money in Italy"), prompting the low-cost airline to base 24 aircraft on 5 bases, the first inaugurated during the Covid in Milan Malpensa, with an investment of €5 billion. A network of 25 Italian airports connected to serve 90 destinations to 40 countries, bringing the Italian market share to 10% in the summer months.

The growth plans also include the new training centre that will be inaugurated by the end of the year at Fiumicino airport and is already being set up. It will be the second one after Budapest with the capacity to train both flight personnel and part of the 5 thousand pilots that Wizz Air plans to train every year to cover the growth of the fleet of 340 aircraft by 2030 from the current 207: in the 2500 square metres available there will be 3-4 simulators of the A320 family. Investment cost 38 million euros.

In addition to the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine that forced the cancellation of numerous destinations, Wizz Air was the airline most affected in Europe by the grounding of aircraft due to the ongoing inspections of the Pratt & Whitney engines mounted on the Airbus 320neo: 'There are currently 45 aircraft grounded, but we will need another 12 months to complete the inspections. The good news is that we have come to an agreement on compensation, which is already underway,' the CEO added. This has forced the company to revise downwards its profit forecast for 2024 now between €350m and €370m, an indication announced before the release of quarterly results scheduled for 23 May. The London Stock Exchange-listed share also suffered, down 5.8% since the beginning of the year.