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(Alliance News) - Wizz Air Holdings PLC on Tuesday posted a rise in passenger numbers and increased seat capacity in December.
Shares in Wizz Air were up 12% at 4,706.00 pence on Tuesday in London, the biggest riser in the FTSE 250 index at midday. Airline stocks were in favour in London at the start of the new year, amid confidence the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 will not be met by significant new travel restrictions.
The Budapest-based low-cost carrier said that booked passenger numbers were up 21% in December, rising to 2.6 million from 2.2 million in November. Compared to year ago, passengers carried nearly quadrupled from 665,772.
In both September and October, the figure stood at 3.0 million. Booked passenger numbers for the year peaked in August at 3.6 million.
Wizz Air raised its capacity 23% to 3.5 million in December from 2.9 million in November.
The load factor dipped slightly to 75% in December from 76% in November but was well up from 56% in December 2020.
Alexander Paterson, an analyst with Peel Hunt, said this was a positive for Wizz Air and would likely significantly increase competition for easyJet PLC, which has the greatest number of slots at the companies' shared Gatwick Airport base, but a much higher cost base.
easyJet shares were up 12% at 620.40p on Tuesday amid the general rise in travel stocks.
Looking ahead, Susannah Streeter of Hargreaves Lansdown commented that airline bookings would have gotten a "rocket boost" from hopes that this latest spike of Covid-19 infection will flatten relatively quickly.
Looking forward, Wizz Air said it will launch new routes from its Gatwick Airport base from March onwards. The routes will be to 14 new destinations including Palma in Spain, Tel Aviv in Israel and Mykonos in Greece.
By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com
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