Wizz Air reports sharp rise in passenger numbers in May

(Sharecast News) - Wizz Air reported a sharp rise in May passenger numbers on Tuesday, as capacity increased into the summer season, while its load factor improved year on year.

The FTSE 250 low-cost carrier said it carried 7.13m passengers in May, up 26.1% from 5.66m a year earlier.

Capacity rose 25.4% to 7.77m seats from 6.20m, while the load factor increased 0.5 percentage points to 91.7%.

The May performance marked an acceleration from April, when passenger numbers rose 22% year on year.

On a rolling 12-month basis, Wizz Air carried 72.41m passengers, up 12.3% from 64.46m in the prior-year period.

Capacity rose 12.9% to 79.85m seats, while the rolling load factor slipped 0.5 percentage points to 90.7%.

The airline said it resumed services to Tel Aviv on 28 May after suspending flights to Israel following the outbreak of the Middle East conflict.

The carrier said it was reconnecting Israel with destinations including Athens, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Krakow, Larnaca, London, Milan, Rome, Sofia and Warsaw.

Wizz Air also said it was continuing to expand in Italy, where it describes itself as the country's second-largest carrier.

It will base an 11th aircraft at Milan Malpensa from 14 September, a third aircraft at Naples from 14 December and a fourth aircraft at Catania from the same date.

The airline said its Italian-based fleet had grown from 29 aircraft in summer 2025 to 41 this summer across seven bases.

The company also entered a distribution agreement with travel technology provider Atlas, giving Atlas's corporate travel partners access to Wizz Air content through an API connection.

It said the deal followed similar agreements with Kyte and Travelfusion to distribute content through corporate travel booking channels.

Wizz Air said it operated 77 incremental flights for football fans from London and Paris during the final three days of May for the UEFA Champions League final in Budapest, achieving a 99.9% load factor on those services.

The airline reported monthly CO2 emissions of 566,401 tonnes, up 12.8% year on year, while CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre fell 3.2% to 49.4 grams.

On a rolling 12-month basis, CO2 emissions rose 5.2% to 6.17m tonnes, while emissions intensity declined 3.0% to 50.3 grams per passenger kilometre.

At 0830 BST, shares in Wizz Air Holdings were up 2.36% at 1,043.04p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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