Last checked at 
* To cut Jan capacity to 25% of last yr's level from 35% in
Dec
* Confident in long-term growth prospects
* Sees demand much improved by the summer
(Recasts, adds background)
By Sarah Young
LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Wizz Air will cut its
flying plans for January because of new lockdowns in Britain,
its chief executive Jozsef Varadi said, adding there was little
visibility for the coming months but travel demand should return
by summer.
Earlier on Thursday, larger competitor Ryanair cut
its annual traffic forecast by around 5 million passengers, also
blaming lockdowns.
During December, Varadi said Wizz flew 35% of 2019's
capacity. He forecast that the new lockdowns in the United
Kingdom, one of Wizz's three biggest markets alongside Romania
and Poland, would mean capacity would fall to 25% in January.
Varadi, who co-founded Wizz in Hungary in 2003, said Wizz's
longer term growth story remained intact, and the airline should
bounce back.
"I think if restrictions get removed by summer, I would say
that summer 2021 would not be far away from summer 2019 from our
perspective," he said. "But you would not see that happening at
many of the other airlines."
Since the pandemic struck, some larger airlines have
scrambled to raise the funds to survive a period of almost no
flying. EasyJet, British Airways and Lufthansa
all plan to shrink.
But Wizz entered the crisis well-funded, like Ryanair, with
which it vies for the title of Europe's lowest-cost airline.
Wizz says its 1.6 billion euros ($1.96 billion) in cash
means it can survive for two years even if all planes are
grounded.
The pandemic is still a challenge. Wizz axed 1,000 staff and
for the six months ended September, sank to a loss of 145
million euros. The stock is down 13% over the last year.
Wizz spent the last five years expanding beyond its eastern
European base across the United Kingdom and western Europe and
has continued to grow its fleet despite the pandemic.
Since last March, it has opened 260 new routes and 13 bases,
including one at Gatwick, London's second biggest airport, where
it is keen to expand.
Next week, it will head further east with the launch of Wizz
Air Abu Dhabi, an airline connecting the Gulf region and Europe.
Wizz has also beefed up its board and management team. The
former chief financial officer of British Airways-owner IAG
joined the board in November and easyJet's former chief
commercial officer is expected to join later this year.
While there was limited visibility on bookings for the next
three to five months, summer bookings were "very encouraging"
said Varadi.
"Clearly, people's expectations are that by summer, this is
all going to be behind us," he said, citing vaccination
programmes.
The arrival of the vaccine prompted Ryanair to forecast in
November that the summer would be "very impressive", while
easyJet has been more cautious.
($1 = 0.8156 euros)
(Reporting by Sarah Young. Editing by Kate Holton, Mark Potter
and Barbara Lewis)
