Wizz Air axes one-fifth of personnel but remains upbeat on prospects

Wizz Air is cutting 1,000 personnel, nearly one-fifth of its staff, after its operation was reduced to a bare minimum by the coronavirus crisis. The airline says it has been forced to take the “difficult step” to make workers redundant, adding that it has also carried out additional short-term furlough of staff. Wizz Air has a fleet of Airbus jets and is planning to return 32 older aircraft by the end of 2022-23 as their leases expire, as part of its measures to trim costs and improve liquidity. It states that its balance sheet is still “very strong” with “excellent” liquidity including E1.5b in cash. Wizz Air has just ended its latest fiscal year, March 31, and has disclosed that it will take a Q4 charge of E70-80m relating to hedging losses. It expects, as a result, to record a net full-year profit of E270-280m for 2019-20. <br/>