Wizz chief sees network diversification key to easing crisis impact

Wizz Air CE Jozsef Varadi believes the airline’s network diversification in recent months will help the low-cost carrier better ride out the coming months of the coronavirus crisis. The central European budget carrier has established a number of new small operating bases across Europe since the pandemic, making it one of the most active players since travel restrictions began being lifted within Europe. Wizz had caught the eye with its bullish outlook, and it had hoped to be operating up to 80% of its planned capacity in the last quarter of this calendar year. But it has been forced to scale that back amid a series of fresh travel restrictions across Europe. Notably, that includes its home country, Hungary. “We are not immune from the situation and we are similarly impacted by – not the pandemic itself – but the economic impact and the political agendas,” said Varadi. ”I think this whole pandemic management has become a very complex animal because it is much more than managing the… virus itself. We have been trying to stay as agile as we could have been. We looked at demand and continued to adjust capacity depending on demand. We were trying to be rational and align capacity to the new customer realities... I think we are benefiting from the level of diversification we have achieved. We are operating from 45 countries, with more than 30 operating bases in 20 countries.” Story has more quotes.<br/>