WizzAirHungaryAirlinesLtd.

isaHungarianlowcostairlinewithitsheadofficeonthe
propertyofBudapestLisztFerencInternationalAirportinBudapest.Theairlinetypically
uses secondary airports serving many cities across Europe, and Azerbaijan, Cyprus,
Georgia, Israel, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. It has the largest fleet of any
Hungarianairlinealthoughitisnotaflagcarrier.WizzAircurrentlyserves35countries.
History
TheairlinewasestablishedinSeptember2003.TheleadinvestorisIndigoPartners,an
Americanprivateequityfirmspecialisingintransportationinvestments.Thefirstflightwas
madefromKatowiceon19May2004,19daysafterPolandandHungaryenteredthe
European Union and the single European aviation market. The airline carried 250,000
passengersinitsfirstthreeandahalfmonths,andalmost1.4millionpassengersinthe
first year of operations. In 2007, Wizz Air carried 2.9 million passengers on its Polish
routes.
Theairline'sCEOandchairmanisJzsefVradi,formerCEOofMalvHungarianAirlines.
ThecompanyisregisteredinPestCounty(Hungary)withoperatingsubsidiariesinPoland,
HungaryandBulgaria.WizzAirBulgariawasestablishedinSeptember2005.Vradiwon
theErnst&Youngawardofthe'BraveInnovator'in2007.
In2011,WizzAircarried11millionpassengers(15%morethanin2010),including4.2
millionpassengersonPolishroutes(only2%morethanin2010).InrecentyearsWizz
stopped developing itsnetworkofconnectionsfromPoland and opened new basesin
CzechRepublic,Bulgaria,Macedonia,Romania,Lithuania,LatviaandSerbia.However,
PolandisstillthelargestcapitalmarketforWizzAir.
On4October2012,WizzAirlaunchedanewcabinbagpolicytoencouragecustomersto
bring smallerbaggage onboard followinga successful monthlongtrial on the London
LutonandKatowiceroute.Thismeansthatasmaller(42x32x25cm)cabinbagcanbe
taken on board for free; larger cabin bags (56x45x25cm) would incur a fee varying
between10or30.
Headoffice
Wizz Air has its Headquarters in Building 221 of Budapest Liszt Ferenc International
AirportinBudapest.WizzAirsignedtheleaseagreementinOctober2010andmoved
thereinJune2011.Theairlineoccupiesover2,000squaremetres(22,000sqft)ofspace
in an office building refurbished after the airline's arrival. The facility, with open plan
offices, houses about 150 employees. Previously, its head office was in the Airport
BusinessParkC2inVecss,closetotheairport.
Financialperformance
WhileattemptingtohastenSkyEurope'sdemiseinJune2009,WizzAirclaimedithad
been"profitableforseveralyears".However,asaprivatecompanyannualreportsare
available at http://ebeszamolo.kim.gov.hu/keresesDefault.aspx it is not required to
publishitsfinancialaccounts.InNovember2009,itemergedthatWizzAirwassignificantly

lossmakingandhadnevermadeaprofitwhiledelayingthepaybackof 32millionof
debtbyfiveyears.Lossessincecommencingoperationstotal78million,which,in2009,
fueledsuggestionsthattheairlinewouldfileforbankruptcy.SincethenWizzAirreported
recordprofitsin2012.
According to the Hungarian weekly magazine Figyel, Wizz Air ranks as the 42nd
companyinHungaryinrevenuesin2010.WizzAirpostedsalesofHUF165billionin2010,
whichwasanincreaseof22%comparedtothepreviousyear.
Destinations
WizzAirpreferstolandatsmallerorsecondaryairportstoreducecostsandfees.
WizzAirstartednew servicesbetween Katowice andLondonGatwickin2008.Winter
destinations from Warsaw are Milan Bergamo and Grenoble. In January 2008, flights
startedfromGdansktoGothenburg,BournemouthandCoventry.
In summer 2008, Wizz Air restarted the summer only services from Katowice and
Budapest to Girona, as well as a new weekly service to Girona from Gdask. Other
summerservicesfromBudapestareHeraklion,Corfu,BurgasandVarna,fromKatowice
to CreteHeraklion and Burgas, Warsaw to Corfu and Burgas. They also restarted the
threetimesweeklyservicefromLondonLutontoBurgas.
On2October2008,WizzAirannouncedthatanumberofitsRomaniaserviceswould
haveincreasedfrequencyfollowinganorderforthreeAirbusA320aircraft.Servicesbegan
15February2009fromTimisoara,on1March2009fromBucharest,and1May2009from
ClujNapoca.
In February 2012, Wizz Air announced that it would start flights from Debrecen
InternationalAirporttoLondon,beginning18June2012.
On11September2012,WizzAirannouncednewroutestoandfromTelAviv,Israel.
On11April2013WizzairannouncedthatitwouldstartflightsfromBudapestAirportto
BakuHeydarAliyevInternationalAirportstartingfrom17June2013.Itwillbecomethe
furthestofWizzAir'sdestinations.TheairlinewillpushfurtheragainfromlateOctober
2013whenitissettobecomeoneofthefirstairlinestooperatefromDubaiWorldCentral
Airport.
On13June2013,WizzAirannouncedentryontheMoldovanmarketaddingtwonew
routesfromChiinuInternationalAirportstartingfromSeptember2013.
On26June2013,WizzAirannouncedentryontheSlovakianmarketaddingonenew
routefromKoiceInternationalAirportstartingfromSeptember2013.

WizzAirUkraine
TheUkrainiandivisionofWizzAir,whichhasitsownairoperator'scertificate,hasthree
aircraftbasedatKyivZhulianyInternationalAirport,onebasedatDonetskInternational
Airport,andfrom30April2014afifthaircraftbasedatLvivInternationalAirport.Asresult
ofthe2014situationinUkraine,WizzAirUkraineonlyhastwoaircraftbasedinUkrainefor
KievandLvivasofJune.
Controversy
Callstothecustomerservicedepartmentcost0.95EURperminute,accordingtoWizz
Air'shomepage.Controversially,WizzAirmaintainsthatittakesupto30daystoprocess
customercomplaintemails.
In 2009, the company initiated an official complaint to the World Intellectual Property
Organizationagainstaregistereddomainnameonthegrounds,amongothers,thatthe
additionofthesuffix"sucks"totherespondent'sdomainnamewasanegativetermused
toindicatecriticism.Itwastheopinionofthepanelthat"...inrespectofgenuineandnon
commercialcriticismofthecomplainantdoesnotamounttobadfaithregistrationanduse."
Thefinaljudgmentresultedinthecomplaintbeingdeniedandthepaneldeclinedtoorder
thetransferofthedisputeddomainname.
Inflightservices
WizzAirhasabuyonboardservicecalledWizzCafandashoppingservicecalledWizz
Boutique. For both services, the base price is in euros. Other currencies are also
accepted,dependingontheoriginanddestinationoftheflight.WizzAirflightsalsoaccept
EuroCard,MasterCardandVisacreditanddebitcards.
Fleet
TheWizzAirfleetconsistsofthefollowingaircraftwithanaveragefleetageof3.9years.
Aircraft

Infleet

Orders

AirbusA320232
AirbusA321231

54
0

36
25

Total

54

61

WhereistheWizzAirOperationalandFinancialHeadquarters?
OperationalBudapest,FinancialGeneva.
WizzAirHungaryLimitedwasfoundin?
2003.
ApproximatelyhowmanypassengerswerecarriedbyWizzAirin2010?
10millions
TheWizzAirICAO/IATAcodeis?
WZZ/W6
TheentireWizzAirfleetispoweredbyenginesfromwhichmanufacturer?
InternationalAeroEngines.
ThefirsteverWizzAirflighttookoffromwhichcity?
Katowice.
Thereare.operatingbasesatWizzair?
18,butthiswillchangeduetoexpansionofairline!!
WherewasWizzairfounded(orestablished)?
Hungary(Budapest)
Currentnumberoffleet?
54Aircrafts(AirbusA320232)+orderfor61
WizzAirbases?
Budapest(HQ)
PoznaKatowiceGdaskWarsawChopinWrocaw
BucharestClujNapocaCraiovaTrguMureTimioara
Belgrade
KyivZhuliany
Prague
Riga
Vilnius
Skopje
Sofia