Wizz Air boss warns rivals risk being bust by September due to Iran war

The boss of budget airline Wizz has warned rivals in Europe are at risk collapse by September if jet fuel prices remain at record levels because of the Middle East conflict . Jozsef Varadi predicted the hit will come when a boost from summer bookings come to an end. “At the moment, all airlines are selling against summer demand, which is the highest-priced capacity during the year,” he said. “But you run out of steam by the end of June. “Airlines go bust two times a year, in September and February. Airlines with weak liquidity positions will come under immense pressure in September.” Jet fuel prices have more than doubled since the Iran war erupted at the end of February. It came as UK-based Ascend Airways, which supplies aircraft to other carriers, reportedly collapsed into liquidation. The company had leased aircraft to travel airline Tui and Oman Air in the past. Ascend apparently said the Middle East conflict and the surge in fuel prices meant it faced a “challenging outlook” for the summer season. An insider told The Sun : “It’s gone bust today, we got the news this afternoon. We’ve all been given the letters that it’s all going into liquidation.” The Mirror has contacted the company for a comment. The surge in fuel prices and the threat of shortages saw German airline Lufthansa last week announce the axing of 20,000 summer flights. Lufthansa has joined around two dozen airlines that have now scaled back operations in the face of rocketing fuel bills. Meanwhile, industry body Airports Council International has warned smaller regional airports face an “existential threat” because of fall-out from the hit to the sector. Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe director general, said: “The post-Covid-19 reality had already revealed a multi-speed regional airport market – with a clear divide between small regional airports, whose passenger traffic still remains more than 30% below 2019 levels, and larger ones, who have seen their traffic increasing by more than 16%. “The current levels of jet fuels prices and the prospect of a new cost-of-living crisis mean that many regional airports across our continent are likely to face both a supply and demand shock. For them, this is nothing short of an existential threat.” Despite the challenges, Wizz Air said its leisure summer schedule would be 17% larger this year, with growth focused on the Balkan and Caucasus markets, despite concerns over jet fuel supply and costs tied to the Iran war. “We are much stronger on summer bookings this year than last year,” Varadi told reporters at a briefing, after rivals including easyJet and Tui announced drops in forward bookings and issued profit warnings in recent weeks. He maintains that he doesn’t think jet fuel will run out in the coming weeks. Varadi said it was a good moment for Europe to reassess its reliance on the Middle East for fuel, especially as the crisis could lead to broader capacity cuts across the industry intensifying in the autumn. “If you look at the very nature how Europe is accessing jet fuel, I mean, we are far over-dependent on the Middle East. I mean, that’s kind of crazy,” he said.