WIZZ AIRBenedict Gombocz

WIZZ AIR: OVERVIEW Hungarian low-cost airline with its main office on the

property of Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest.

Normally uses minor airports serving many cities throughout Europe and Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, and Turkey.

Has the biggest aircraft fleet of all the Hungarian airlines.

Serves 32 countries currently; planned to expand its operations to Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, and the United Arab Emirates in the second half of 2013.

WIZZ AIR: HISTORY The airline was founded in September 2003.

Indigo Partners, an American private equity firm specializing in transportation savings, is the lead financier.

Wizz Air’s first flight took place on 19 May 2004, 18 days after Poland and Hungary joined the European Union and the single European aviation market; it carried 250,000 passengers in its first three and a half months, and nearly 1.4 million passengers in the first year of operations.

It also carried 2.9 million passengers on its Polish route in 2007.

József Váradi, the former Malév Hungarian Airlines CEO, is the Wizz Air’s CEO and chairman.

The airline is registered in Pest Country in Hungary, with operating subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria.

In September 2005, Wizz Air Bulgaria was founded.

In 2007, Váradi won the Ernst & Young award of the “Brave Innovator”.

Wizz Air carried 11 million passengers in 2011 (15% more than the previous year), including 4.2 million passengers on Polish routes (only 2% more than the previous year).

Wizz Air ceased expanding its system of connections from Poland, opening new bases in Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Lithuania, and Serbia.

Poland nevertheless remains WizzAir’s biggest capital market.

WIZZ AIR: OPERATING BASES & SUBSIDIARIES Operating bases:

Belgrade

Bucharest

Budapest (HQ)

Cluj-Napoca

Gdańsk

Katowice

Kyiv-Zhuliany

Poznań

Prague

Skopje

Sofia

Târgu Mureş

Timişoara

Vilnius

Warsaw-Chopin

Wrocław

Subsidiaries: Wizz Air Ukraine

Wizz Air Serbia

WIZZ AIR: HEAD OFFICE Wizz Air is headquartered in Building 221 of

Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest.

Wizz Air signed the lease contract in October 2010, and moved there in June 2011.

The airline takes up more than 2,000 square meters (22,000 sq ft) of space in an office building renovated after the airline moved in.

With open plan offices, the facility employs almost 150 workers.

Its main office was formerly in the Airport Business Park C2 in Vecsés, near the airport.

WIZZ AIR: FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE While trying to make haste the collapse of SkyEurope in June 2009, Wizz Air asserted it had been “profitable for

several years”.

Nonetheless, as a private corporation (the accessible yearly reports to everyone without charge: http://e-beszamolo.kim.gov.hu/kereses-Default.aspx), it is not obligated to distribute its fiscal accounts.

It was revealed in November 2009 that Wizz Air was suffering major losses and had not made a profit while postponing the pay-back of €32 million of debit by five years.

Since the commencement of operations, losses amount to €78 million; in 2009, this led to speculation that the airline would file for bankruptcy; Wizz Air reported record incomes in 2012.

According to the Hungarian weekly magazine Figyelő, Wizz Air, with respect to revenues, ranked as the 42nd corporation in Hungary in 2010, during which Wizz Air posted sales of HUF165 billion in 2010, an increase of 22% compared to 2009.

WIZZ AIR: DESTINATIONS MAP

BULGARIAN-REGISTERED WIZZ AIR A320-200

WIZZ AIR: CONTROVERSY Wizz Air, according to customer reviews, is a 2-star airline, making it comparable to Ryanair.

According to Wizz Air’s homepage, calls to the customer department cost 0.95 EUR every minute; controversially, Wizz Air likewise maintains that it takes about 30 days to read and respond to customer complaint e-mails.

In 2009, the corporation filed a formal complaint to the World Intellectual Property Organization against a registered domain name for the reason, among other reasons, that the adding of the suffix sucks to the respondent’s domain name was an offensive term used to indicate disapproval.

It was the Panel’s belief that "...in respect of genuine and non-commercial criticism of the complainant does not amount to bad faith registration and use."

The final judgment led to the rejection of the complaint; the Panel refused to order the reassigning of the debated domain name.

WIZZ AIR: IN-FLIGHT SERVICES Wizz Air has a buy on board service, Wizz Café, and a shopping service called Wizz Boutique; the base

cost is in euros for both services.

Depending on the flight’s origin and destination, other currencies are accepted, too.

Wizz Air flights also permit EuroCard, MasterCard, and Visa credit and debit cards.

WIZZ AIR: NEW CABIN BAGGAGE POLICY On 4 October 2012, Wizz Air began a new cabin bag policy to encourage customers to bring smaller

baggage on-board after a successful month-lasting trail on the London Luton and Katowice route.

This means that a smaller (42x32x25cm) cabin bag can be taken on board free of charge; bigger cabin bags (56x45x25cm) would incur a charge ranging from €10 to €30.

WIZZ AIR: FLEET The Wizz Air is made up of these aircraft with a normal fleet age of 3.9 years (from

August 2013): Airbus A320-232 Airbus A321-200

WIZZ AIR AIRBUS A320 CABIN

THE END YouTube links:

wizz air safety demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1asGWYbOVs

Wizz Air Safety Instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ypeXEmhx4