Wizz Air working to repatriate employees, assets from war-torn Ukraine
Wizz Air is working to repatriate its remaining employees and assets from war-torn Ukraine, the airline announced in a statement dated March 2, 2022. Wizz Air is Europe’s sole budget airline to have bases in Kyiv and Lviv.
"In this very concerning situation we have been focused on helping our colleagues and their families in Ukraine, to move to places of safety,” CEO of Wizz Air, József Váradi announced in the statement. “Many colleagues are volunteering, offering a place to stay and have donated money to the WIZZ Employee Solidarity Fund to help support our Ukrainian colleagues and their families.”
The low-cost carrier has also developed an evacuation plan to withdraw its four Airbus A320 aircraft from Ukraine “when it is safe to do so”. Wizz Air’s three A320s are located in the country’s capital Kyiv, with a further one based in Lviv.
Wizz Air has suspended all flights operating to and from Ukraine and Russia following the closure of Ukrainian, Moldavian, and Russian airspace.
“The aggregate Ukraine/Russia impact was 2% fewer network flights in February than originally scheduled, and we expect March to see an impact of 7% on the network,” the airline stated.
Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the airline anticipates a greater operating loss in Q4 2022 than in Q3 if it fails to preserve ground assets left in Ukraine. The airline also added that the greater operating loss is “subject to other further developments in March 2022”.
On March 2, 2022, Wizz Air also announced that they would support Ukrainian refugees by offering them 100,000 free seats on all continental Europe flights departing from Ukraine’s border countries, including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania.
