By Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Wizz Air aims to restart flights to Ukraine shortly after the announcement of any ceasefire with Russia, reinstating about 30 inbound routes within six weeks, Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi told Reuters on Tuesday.
“We have a firm plan for the restart of Ukraine, because I think it can happen any moment,” Varadi said. “Once a ceasefire is announced, then we would look at our restart.”
Varadi said the European Union Aviation Safety Agency estimates it would need six-to-eight weeks to safely reopen Ukrainian airspace and Wizz Air was getting ready for that.
U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to bring a swift end to the nearly three-year war in Ukraine and contacts between Russia and the U.S. have intensified, but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday there was nothing more to add for now.
Within six months of the conflict ending, Wizz Air would restart operating bases in Kyiv and Lviv, Varadi said, initially aiming to supply an annualised capacity of about 5 million seats a year to the Ukrainian market across 60 routes.
Prior to the war in 2021, the low-cost airline was No. 3 in the Ukrainian market with a 10.1% share.
Rival airline Ryanair has also said it would start flying to Ukraine once the war ends.
Wizz Air cut its annual net income forecast for the second time in six months in January, as it grapples with rising costs related to the grounding of some 20% of its fleet due to engine problems and economic uncertainties.
However, Varadi expects the economic outlook to improve and for capacity to increase by about 20% in the 2025 fiscal year on the expected delivery of 50 new Airbus aircraft between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
“That is a significant source of growth and also we are recovering some of the engine-related grounded aircraft and they will go back into service,” he said.
“So if I look at the kind of the next two years of capacity, we’re going to be able to add around 80 lines of flying to the business,” he said.
Shares in some European airlines fell on Tuesday, with Wizz Air down 6.9% by 1304 GMT, with analysts pointing to TUI Group, Europe’s largest travel operator, having flagged a slowdown in bookings.
(Editing by Sharon Singleton)
