Wizz Air CEO: ‘Crisis management became a constant’
As Covid plunged the airline industry into chaos in 2020, the boss of Wizz Air made an audacious move. Sensing an opportunity for the European low-cost airline, József Váradi decided to expand — taking on new aircraft, scooping up take-off and landing slots and opening new bases — just as rivals were retrenching. “I actually quite liked it,” Váradi remembers. “Yes, of course, we were not immune from the impact and our employees were affected, our consumers were affected, our operation was affected. But the strategic opportunity, I think, enlightened all of us that, you know, this is our time. The industry is moving backwards, we need to push forward.” Váradi started his career in the “extraordinary, unprecedented opportunities” of the fall of communism in his native Hungary and spent 10 years working for US consumer goods company Procter & Gamble before briefly running his country’s state airline. The entrepreneurial spirit that ultimately led him to launch Wizz in 2004, with backing from US investors, was evident from a young age. Váradi excelled at maths at school, and remembers, aged about nine, selling the answers to the day’s tests to his classmates. “I bought my first soccer ball as a result, and I was so proud of it, because I don’t think the family could afford that. But I was able to buy it.” As London-listed Wizz expanded during the pandemic, it was dubbed “the last great growth story in European aviation” by one investment bank. In 2021, with its share price rising, the company offered Váradi a £100mn bonus if he could more than double the stock price and challenge Ryanair’s supremacy in Europe. Then, the problems started. Just as the rest of the industry was taking off again, Wizz was hit with multiple headwinds that combined to thwart its growth plans. “Too many black swans,” as Váradi puts it.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-05-07/unaligned/wizz-air-ceo-2018crisis-management-became-a-constant2019
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Wizz Air CEO: ‘Crisis management became a constant’
As Covid plunged the airline industry into chaos in 2020, the boss of Wizz Air made an audacious move. Sensing an opportunity for the European low-cost airline, József Váradi decided to expand — taking on new aircraft, scooping up take-off and landing slots and opening new bases — just as rivals were retrenching. “I actually quite liked it,” Váradi remembers. “Yes, of course, we were not immune from the impact and our employees were affected, our consumers were affected, our operation was affected. But the strategic opportunity, I think, enlightened all of us that, you know, this is our time. The industry is moving backwards, we need to push forward.” Váradi started his career in the “extraordinary, unprecedented opportunities” of the fall of communism in his native Hungary and spent 10 years working for US consumer goods company Procter & Gamble before briefly running his country’s state airline. The entrepreneurial spirit that ultimately led him to launch Wizz in 2004, with backing from US investors, was evident from a young age. Váradi excelled at maths at school, and remembers, aged about nine, selling the answers to the day’s tests to his classmates. “I bought my first soccer ball as a result, and I was so proud of it, because I don’t think the family could afford that. But I was able to buy it.” As London-listed Wizz expanded during the pandemic, it was dubbed “the last great growth story in European aviation” by one investment bank. In 2021, with its share price rising, the company offered Váradi a £100mn bonus if he could more than double the stock price and challenge Ryanair’s supremacy in Europe. Then, the problems started. Just as the rest of the industry was taking off again, Wizz was hit with multiple headwinds that combined to thwart its growth plans. “Too many black swans,” as Váradi puts it.<br/>
