Wizz Air expects limited opportunities from airBaltic's bankruptcy and anticipates more European airline failures due to high fuel prices, CEO Jozsef Varadi said Monday. Speaking at a conference hosted by the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading, Varadi said airlines without fuel price hedges face severe liquidity problems from the recent oil price spike and "will be in a very difficult situation." He said airBaltic, which is state-owned by Latvia, is "just far too big for a tiny little market like Latvia" now that Russian traffic is gone, and that Latvia's location at the periphery of the European Union near the Russian border limits interest given current geopolitical conditions. Varadi said Wizz is hedged at half the market price across 80% of its fuel needs for the next 12 months, and that this year would be challenging as the industry deals with oil prices and geopolitics but could create opportunities, with the airline expanding capacity into Italy, Romania, Albania and other locations.
Wizz Air Holdings PLCCEO Varadi says airBaltic's bankruptcy offers limited opportunity, but anticipates more European airline failures that could create expansion openings for Wizz.
airBaltic is in bankruptcy, with the CEO attributing its failure to unhedged fuel costs amid the oil price spike.
