As airlines suffer, Wizz still bets on expansion

Every day seems to bring more news of airline job cuts.

But one carrier at least still has expansion in mind.

Wizz says the current crisis will be a drag into 2021.

But it’s sticking to plans for a bigger fleet.

That will see it have 9% more seats by March next year.

A new joint venture in Abu Dhabi will also be bigger than originally planned when it starts up in the autumn.

The Hungary-based carrier has one of the strongest balance sheets among European peers.

It’s the region’s third-largest budget airline, behind Ryanair and easyJet.

It expects to fly about 60% of its capacity over the summer, compared with about 40% at Ryanair.

While it has announced 1,000 job cuts, Wizz says it won’t delay deliveries on any new jets.

That’s a sharp contrast with holiday firm TUI.

On Wednesday (June 3) it said it had agreed a deal with Boeing to delay deliveries.

That will help spread out costs at a time when money is tight.

Boeing will also pay it compensation over the grounding of 737 MAX jets.

They’ve been out of action since March last year following two fatal crashes.

Last month TUI said it would shed 8,000 jobs and cut costs by 30% after holiday travel dried up.