Low-cost carrier Wizz Air is planning further expansion after increasing passenger numbers by 19 per cent during the last financial year.
The Budapest-based airline, which specialises in flights to and from central and eastern Europe (CEE), carried 23.8 million passengers in the year to March 31 – up from 20 million during the previous year.
This growth was fuelled by opening 113 new routes during the year, including four new destinations in the CEE region and 10 new routes outside this region. Wizz is planning to increase capacity by a further 23 per cent over the next year.
The airline’s revenue rose by 10 per cent to €1.57 billion for the 2016-17 financial year while operating profit increased by 4.8 per cent to £246.7 million.
Wizz said it had seen “no signs of demand weakness on routes to/from the UK” since the EU referendum in June 2016.
Although, the airline admitted that it had lost €17 million due to the fall in the value of the pound over the last year.
Jozsef Varadi, Wizz Air's CEO, said it had been “another year of profitable growth” despite a “trading environment of very low fares and increasing fuel prices”.
“We will continue to expand our route network, drive efficiency in our operating model, grow our ancillary revenue streams and enhance our compelling customer proposition,” added Varadi.
“Growth will continue as a top priority for us and we plan to increase capacity by around 23 per cent and carry nearly 30 million passengers in full-year 2018.”