Wizz Air expects capacity for FY25 from April to remain flat year on year as it feels the effects of the grounding of the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan-powered Airbus A321neo’s. The GTF issues and delays of some new aircraft deliveries will not be enough to offset the effects of lease extensions and dry leases. Hence, the flat capacity guidance for FY25.
During the Q3 FY24 earnings call, Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi said that he had 35 A320neo family aircraft with GTFs on the ground today. This will grow to 40 by the end of March when the current financial year ends. At the end of Q3 in December, 13 aircraft were grounded out of 195 in the fleet.
Turnaround times of engines coming back from shop visits are around 300 days, but Wizz Air has seen some accelerated deliveries of spare engines. Although Varadi voiced frustration with P&W, he added that Wizz has a “fair agreement” in place to compensate his airline for the GTF issues, which will be “a temporary distress.” “But compensation is not making money for the company, it is just offsetting costs.”
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