If Wizz Air boss Jozsef Varadi has his way, the carrier should triple its fleet by 2030 and hire around 4.600 pilots. By the end of 2021 alone, the plan is to add 300 additional pilots.
The group has operational flight operations in Hungary, Abu Dhabi and the United Kingdom. Wizz Air did not say exactly where it wants to grow so strongly by 2030, because a strategy change would be necessary within Europe, because at many of the smaller airports that are used, growth is hardly possible any more. Wizz AIr would therefore have to turn to larger airports, but these are often associated with higher costs. According to reports, the carrier is thinking about reactivating the former subsidiary in Kiev-Schuljany and including domestic destinations and destinations for which an AOC of Ukraine is required. There are similar considerations for other states that are located in the area of the former Soviet republics and in the Balkans. There would be quite a bit of potential here.
Wizz Air is currently aiming for the fleet to be expanded to 2030 aircraft by 500. There are currently 140 machines, all of which are leased. Taking into account existing orders, the goal that the lowcoster has set itself also means that a larger order must be placed with Airbus or another manufacturer - the latter is considered unlikely - in the near future.
Not everywhere there is only positive feedback on the ambitious plan of the low-cost airline. For example, the European pilots union ECA has been criticizing the working conditions for pilots for several years. In the media statement, Wizz Air also did not mention that around 1.000 employees were kicked out during the corona pandemic and that many of them left the company voluntarily because of the paycuts.