Your Summer Air Travel Won’t Be Perfect, Wizz Air CEO Cautions

Wizz Air Holdings Plc cautioned that persistent strikes by air traffic controllers in France, alongside staffing shortages for outsourced services across the industry as well as delayed plane deliveries risk disrupting travel again this summer.

(Bloomberg) — Wizz Air Holdings Plc cautioned that persistent strikes by air traffic controllers in France, alongside staffing shortages for outsourced services across the industry as well as delayed plane deliveries risk disrupting travel again this summer. 

“As far as the operating environment is concerned, I think we will have hiccups out there,” Chief Executive Officer Jozsef Varadi said in an interview today. “I think everyone, all the stakeholders, have made significant investments into a more resilient operation, learning from the issues last summer. But I don’t think this summer will be perfect, so I think we should be expecting some problems coming from the environment.”

The discount carrier said it’s hired more crews, built buffers into usually short turnaround times at airports and made plans to deploy more spare aircraft in order to maintain its flight schedules. Varadi said the carrier displayed its resilience over the Easter holidays last week, and that he was optimistic about the airline’s operations this summer.

A surge in travel last summer, coupled with insufficient airline and airport staffing after two years of virtually no flying, triggered chaos across Europe, forcing airports including London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol to restrict capacity. Airlines, ground handling firms and airport operators, which slashed staffing during the pandemic, say they’ve since hired enough people to avoid a repeat of such disruptions this year.

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