Wizz air gains height and buys more planes

Wizz air, the budget airline that specialises in flights to eastern Europe, has ordered 10 new Airbus aeroplanes as Brexit proves no barrier to its rapid growth.

Wizz air saw passenger numbers climb by almost a quarter in June, a month in which it took the fight for passengers to easyJet’s backyard with a new base in Luton.

The strong month performance meant Wizz air carried over 25 million passengers in the year to the end of June, a fifth more than in 2016.

The Luton base is providing new routes to Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. As well as ordering 10 planes, the fast-growing airline took delivery of two new Airbus planes in June, taking its total fleet to 83. It has also opened a new base in Warsaw.

Rival Ryanair performed strongly during June, with a 12% increase in customers, taking the total for the month to 11.8 million. Ryanair has seen its load factor for the month jump by two percentage points to 96%, suggesting most of its aeroplanes are almost full.

The Irish airline said it was seeing strong demand on the back of low fares to European destinations.