By Joe Hoppe
Wizz Air Holdings swung to a pretax profit in the first quarter on record passenger numbers, and backed its guidance for fiscal 2024.
The European low-cost airline said Thursday that pretax profit was 61.1 million euros ($66.8 million) for the three months ended June 30, compared with a loss of EUR452.5 million a year prior. The company reported a record of 15.3 million passengers, up 25%, with passenger ticket revenue increasing to EUR688.2 million from EUR392.0 million.
Revenue rose to EUR1.24 billion from EUR808.8 million. Ancillary revenue for the period was EUR548.4 million compared with EUR416.8 million.
Operating expenses rose 5.8% to EUR1.16 billion. Fuel costs fell to EUR443.7 million from EUR508 million, though airport, handling and en-route charges increased 26% to EUR289.3 million, and staff costs rose 38% to EUR119.3 million.
“More resilient operations and improving productivity are expected to continue to reduce our ex-fuel unit cost and we maintain our previously stated fiscal 2024 profit guidance,” Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi said.
The company expects fiscal 2024 net profit in the range of EUR350 million to EUR450 million.
Shares at 0752 GMT were down 132.0 pence, or 5.6%, at 1,230.0 pence.
Write to Joe Hoppe at [email protected]
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