Wizz Air shares soar as groundings fall; No plans for US flights

(Sharecast News) - Shares in Wizz ‌Air soared on Thursday as the low-cost carrier said fewer of its planes were grounded due to ongoing issues with Pratt & Whitney engines at the end of last year, while adding that it had no plans to start scheduled services to the US. The budget airline said it was "steadily recovering" from aircraft groundings related to issues with the RTX-owned Pratt & Whitney engine that required inspections. There were 33 planes sidelined at the end of 2025, compared with 40 the year before.

"We are ... targeting to have an average of 20-25 aircraft on the ground due to ‍powdered metal issues," chief executive Jozsef Varadi said on Thursday. Shares in the company were up 9%.

Operating losses for the three months to December 31 came in at €124m driven by depreciation costs on older aircraft, compared to ‌the €76m reported in 2024. Analysts had forecast a loss of €138m.

Varadi added that Wizz was expecting modest inflation vs last year "as we forecast increased navigation costs from higher Eurocontrol rates, maintenance costs due to inflationary pressures, partly reflecting the uncertainty around Pratt & Whitney's engine redeliveries from shop visits and higher depreciation costs related to the retirement schedule of the A320ceo family".

Chief financial officer Ian Malin also said the airline had no plans to start scheduled services to the US after reports on Wednesday that an application had been made to the Department of Transportation.

"We have applied for charter rights for the World Cup flights next year, potentially. We would only do a charter if the money makes sense. So you sell the flight in advance, you collect the cash in advance, you price it accordingly, and the profit's locked in," he said on an earnings call.

"We do not have plans for scheduled service to the United States. That's an example of us being opportunistic and looking at ways for us to diversify our revenue stream, but I would not expect there to be a material impact to the numbers based upon that.

"The (DoT) application allows for you to select a checkbox for scheduled, and that checkbox was selected, but I think somebody's taken that far out of proportion. So there's no change to the business model other than opportunistic charter costs based upon the mission that that aircraft can fly."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com