Yahoo Finance Budget airline Wizz Air passenger numbers up 58%
Budget airline Wizz Air (WIZZ.L) carried 4.2 million passengers in December, up 58.4% year-on-year on the back of an expanded network.
The December numbers took the airline’s overall passenger load to 45.6m, representing 86.7% of seating capacity, it said in a statement to markets.
The low-cost carrier Wizz announced a host of expansions in December, including Milan to Jeddah and Rome to Riyadh, as well as starting flights from Austria to Saudi Arabia.
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The airline last year signed a deal with the Ministry of Investment for Saudi Arabia in support of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 programme which aims to triple the country’s passenger traffic by 2030.
Expansion was also announced for Rome, Vienna, Warsaw, Tirana in Albania, Kutaisi in Georgia and Belgrade in Serbia for 2023.
Additionally, it opened a base in Suceava, Romania, with the extra aircraft at all bases supporting new routes and increased frequencies in 2023.
The low cost carrier also launched new flights between London Gatwick and Grenoble in France, with fares starting from £12.99.
The performance saw the airline end 2022 with carryings more than double to 45.6 million from 21.7 million the previous year.
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Wizz Air added that it “continuously operates amongst the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger/km amongst all competitor airlines”.
In December, it produced 55.3 grams of CO2 per passenger/km, a 13% decrease compared to December 2021.
Meanwhile, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi – the joint venture between the airline and state-owned ADQ – will commence operations to Madinah in Saudi Arabia next month.
The airline will operate a daily service from February 14, with one-way fares of the low-cost carrier starting at Dhs179 (£40).
