Wizz Air has reported a sharp Wizz Air earnings drop, with net profit nearly wiped out after the airline took a 50 million euro (£43.1 million) hit from the conflict involving Iran. Despite flying a record number of passengers, the low-cost airline said it cannot offer a financial outlook for the year ahead because of the ongoing volatility and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
How the Iran conflict hit Wizz Air’s earnings
The airline’s operating profit for the year to the end of March came in at 139.7 million euros (£120.6 million), down 16.6% on the previous year. Net profit fell far more sharply: from 213.9 million euros (£184.6 million) to just 1.3 million euros (£1.1 million) year on year.
The Iran war was the most immediate cause of the damage. When fighting escalated at the end of February, Wizz Air (like other airlines) was forced to cancel flights. Routes to Tel Aviv in Israel, along with other services to the Middle East and Cyprus in March, were suspended. The airline estimates those cancellations cost it around 50 million euros (£43.1 million). Flights to Tel Aviv resumed at the end of May, and the airline moved quickly to shift capacity towards alternative summer destinations including Spain, Italy, Croatia and Albania.
Beyond the war’s direct impact, Wizz Air also absorbed a series of one-off costs during the year. Phasing out an older fleet and taking delivery of new aircraft brought elevated maintenance and repair bills. Crew costs rose by 16%. Together, these pressures pushed the company’s net profit to little more than break-even.
Record passenger numbers, but load factor slips
Even against that backdrop, the airline posted some strong operational numbers. Wizz Air flew a record 69.7 million passengers in the year to the end of March, roughly a tenth more than the year before. Revenue from airfares climbed 8.4% year on year to 3.16 billion euros (£2.73 billion).
One measure did soften. The load factor, an industry metric tracked by bodies such as IATA (the International Air Transport Association) that shows what proportion of available seats are filled, dipped by 0.5 percentage points to 90.7%. Wizz Air attributed the fall largely to the aftermath of the Iran war disruption.
Jozsef Varadi, Wizz Air’s chief executive, was upbeat about the longer picture. ‘We have continued to grow and serve an increasing number of customers,’ he said. ‘Equally, the defining feature of the year was the set of strategic decisions we made to position the business for long-term resilience and competitiveness. This has proven to be the right direction, working well in a balanced environment as well as at times of volatility, which the industry experienced towards the end of the financial year due to the Middle East crisis.’
Passenger refunds: £1.2 million paid after reassessment
Separately, a regulator said UK-based Wizz Air passengers whose refund claims were initially rejected have been paid a total of £1.2 million after their applications were reassessed. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK’s aviation regulator, oversees passenger rights in circumstances where airlines’ initial decisions are challenged.
The refund figure is a reminder that the disruption from cancellations did not end when flights resumed. Passengers who were turned away at the first attempt had to pursue reassessment before receiving money owed to them, a process the CAA confirmed has now resulted in that £1.2 million being returned.
On the financial outlook, Wizz Air’s position is straightforward: it cannot say what the coming year will look like. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the conflict has not resolved, and that uncertainty makes any forward guidance unreliable. The airline’s next scheduled results will be the first real test of whether the summer rebalancing towards alternative routes has offset what was lost in the Middle East.
