* Budget carrier now expects to break even or make slight profit
* CEO cites measures to counter impact of Middle East conflict
* Carrier added capacity on existing and new routes
* Full-year results due on June 11
May 12 (Reuters) - Wizz Air expects to break even or achieve slightly positive full-year earnings, the European budget airline said on Tuesday, changing course since its profit warning at the start of the war in the Middle East.
The company attributed its revised guidance to swift action to mitigate the soaring fuel prices and flight cancellations that have hit airlines hard since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran started at the end of February. British Airways owner IAG said last week that annual profit is likely to be lower than previously expected.
"While the industry faces the challenges of the conflict in the Middle East, we have proactively pivoted the affected capacity to our core markets and are seeing strong demand trends through the peak summer period," Chief Executive Jozsef Varadi said in a statement.
The airline's shares were up 0.9% in early trade.
Wizz Air, which reports results for the year to March 31 on June 11, said it was benefiting from added capacity on existing and new routes and will be using promotional fares to protect passenger numbers in the first half of the current financial year. (Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru and Joanna Plucinska in London Editing by Sonia Cheema and David Goodman)
Corporate News Engineering & Industrials Travel & Leisure

(Alliance News) - Vodafone Group swings to an annual profit as impairment charges disappear, while LondonMetric Property agrees a non-binding takeover...


* Tourists shift to shorter, flexible trips amid war, rising costs


(Alliance News) - Stocks ended Monday mixed in London, while oil prices pushed higher, as investors weighed political developments in the UK and the l...