Wizz Air, the Hungary-based airline, recently reported a record year, carrying more than 24.5 million passengers across its entire route network, an increase of 10 percent over the previous year. In November, the company made another important announcement, this time with CEO József Váradi holding an extraordinary press conference.

“Wizz Air currently operates in more than 40 countries with around 200 destinations, serving 910 routes. The fleet consists of 249 aircraft (expected to expand to 250 within a few weeks) and is operated by nearly 10,000 employees,”

Váradi explained.

The CEO emphasized that they are Hungary’s largest airline, with 17 aircraft operating from two airports and a total of 74 destinations in 34 countries served by direct flights from Hungary, representing an annual seat capacity of eight million. However, this number will continue to grow next year.

Váradi announced that

“Wizz Air’s fleet in Hungary will be expanded by another, the 18th Airbus aircraft from May 2026, increasing annual seat capacity by more than 900,000 seats.”

According to their estimates, 8.17 million passengers will be carried on flights to Hungary by the end of this year, with this figure expected to reach 9.1 million in 2026. This is 44 percent more than in the last year before COVID, 2019, with 6.33 million passengers.

Photo: Pixabay

With the expansion of the route network, new flights will be offered from Budapest. In addition to the already announced destinations of Tallinn and Billund, Bergen, Lamezia Terme, and Rimini will also be directly accessible from the Hungarian capital. In addition, numerous flights will be optimized in 2026.

“This will make Wizz Air the airline with the largest capacity to date and give it a 38 percent market share in Hungary,”

according to the CEO.

He also mentioned the company’s activities that go beyond traditional airlines. The company sees itself as a national airline, which is evident, among other things, in its support for Hungary’s largest half marathon and numerous sports partnerships, including as a logistics partner of the Hungarian Olympic Committee and the Hungarian national soccer team.

Just a week before the press conference, the airline published its flash report. In the second quarter of its 2026 financial year, which ended in September, Wizz Air’s operating profit increased by 25.8 percent to EUR 439.2 million compared to the same period last year. Net profit rose by 2.6 percent to €323.5 million, while total revenue increased by nine percent to €3.34 billion, driven by higher capacity and stable demand.

Credits: Wizz Air

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Between May and August 2025, Wizz Air carried over 2.6 million passengers in Hungary, a 13% increase compared to the same period last year. Over those four months, the airline operated nearly 12,000 flights from Budapest and Debrecen. Despite the increased number of flights, there were no major delays, they noted.

“The airline’s on-time performance — which measures punctual departures and arrivals — improved by over 63% in Hungary compared to the same period last year.”

Roughly 70% of Wizz Air flights took off within 15 minutes of their scheduled time. The share of delays exceeding three hours was only 0.5% during this period. These longer delays typically occur when the airline takes extra measures to avoid canceling a flight, ensuring passengers can still reach their destination.

Most flight cancellations this summer were due to the crisis in the Middle East and resulting airspace restrictions, they noted. Beyond these, Wizz Air canceled just six flights affecting Hungary, mainly due to a strike by French air traffic controllers and the temporary closure of Birmingham Airport.

Punctuality improved across its entire network, not just in Hungary, reads the low-cost airline’s press release. On average, one Wizz Air aircraft took off every 90 seconds. In July alone, the airline operated 1,000 flights per day, carrying over 200,000 passengers daily. That month, it completed 99.8% of its scheduled flights — the best performance in Europe. Between May and August, nearly 24.5 million passengers flew with Wizz Air on approximately 120,000 flights.

“HungaroControl, Hungary’s air navigation service provider, played a key role in the improved performance by providing significantly more air traffic control capacity than last year.”

This included both terminal operations (for takeoffs and landings) and high-altitude airspace management (for overflights). As a result, even with a 5% increase in southeast Europe-bound traffic, the region — including Hungary — saw a notable boost in efficiency. Eurocontrol, the European air traffic coordination body, highlighted HungaroControl’s performance in its latest report.

Credits: Wizz Air

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