Wizz Air reports 10.8pc rise in April passengers

(Sharecast News) - Wizz Air carried 5.4 million passengers in April, a year-on-year increase of 10.8%, as the favourable timing of Easter supported a strong start to its financial year. The FTSE 250 low-cost airline said in an update on Friday that its capacity rose 11.4% compared with the same month last year, while the load factor slipped 0.5 percentage points to 89.8%.

It said the seasonal spike in demand from Easter falling entirely within April was expected and consistent with historical trends, although the holiday period also drove one-directional visiting friends and relatives (VFR) traffic that modestly weighed on load factor.

Over the rolling 12-month period, Wizz Air carried 63.9 million passengers, up 3.1% year-on-year, with capacity up 1.9% and load factor improving by one percentage point to 91.1%.

Wizz also advanced its environmental initiatives during the month, launching its 'Flying Towards Net Zero' carbon roadmap.

The strategy placed sustainable aviation fuel at the centre of its decarbonisation plans, with the potential to achieve an additional 25% cut in emissions by 2030.

Carbon dioxide emissions per revenue passenger kilometre fell by 2.5% year-on-year in April, reaching 51.3 grams, maintaining the airline's position as one of Europe's lowest-emission carriers.

At 0952 BST, shares in Wizz Air were down 0.41% at 1,711p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.