Wizz Air warns of full-year losses as pandemic bites

Wizz Air has warned it expects to lose money over the next year unless travel restrictions disappear rapidly in a sign of the threat to the aviation industry from the lingering effects of the pandemic. The low-cost carrier on Wednesday said restrictions had stayed in place “longer than anticipated”. It expects to fly 30% of its normal schedule between April and June. Unless there is “an accelerated and permanent lifting of restrictions”, Wizz forecasts a net loss for the 12 months to the end of March next year. After that, CE Jozsef Varadi expects to return to profit and operate a full schedule. “We are cautiously optimistic about the recovery of the business, which has started later than what we would have liked,” he said. “The outcome [of this financial year] could be in a wide range depending on restrictions,” and it could even end up “a great” year if flying restarts quickly, he added. <br/>