Wizz Air January passenger numbers up 14%, but load factor falls

2nd Feb 2024 07:08

(Sharecast News) - Shares in Wizz Air surged on Friday as the low-cost airline reinstated routes to the Middle East and reported a 14.2% rise in January passenger numbers but load factor fell due to the conflict in Gaza and an increase in one-way traffic.

The budget carrier on Friday said it carried 4.74 million passengers at a load factor of 82.0%, down 4.4 percentage points.

Load factor measures the percentage of available seating capacity that has been filled with passengers.

"Wizz Air is actively implementing measures to optimize our network and adapt to these dynamic conditions, with the aim of enhancing efficiency and supporting a recovery in load factors going forward," the company said.

It reinstated flights between Aqaba (Jordan) and Abu Dhabi, starting from February 4 and announced it would restart operations into Tel Aviv in Israel, with routes from Budapest, Sofia, Bucharest, Krakow, London and Rome opening from the beginning of March.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com