Filenews 4 October 2022
To date, the airline Wizz Air has brought around 400,000 tourists to Cyprus and by the end of the year this number is estimated to reach 800,000, Evelyn Jeckel, a representative of the company's leadership team, said in an interview with CNA.
Ms. Jeckel said that "Wizz Air was founded in 2004, it is an airline of Hungary however it operates throughout Europe and the Middle East. At the moment there are over a thousand routes, the expansion of the company was done very quickly and we have 160 aircraft based in 40 different places."
When asked why the company chose Larnaca as its base in Cyprus, he replied that "Wizz Air has been flying to Larnaca since 2005, but the base was created much later". The company has two aircraft at Larnaca airport, he said and expressed appreciation that "Cyprus is a fantastic destination".
She added that from the company's route network from Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East, it is found that "Cyprus is an ideal place for holidays while at the same time locals can travel abroad".
Asked whether the company is considering a base at Paphos airport as well, Ms. Jeckel replied that "at the moment we are not flying to Paphos, but we are open to this idea".
"The core of the company remains Larnaca, it became very well known for this destination", he said and added that "we had been active in Larnaca for quite a long time, our passengers know and this works very well for us as well".
When asked about the future plans of the company in Cyprus, he replied that "there is a large network of routes on the island but something better can always be done".
She added, "very recently flights were announced from Larnaca to Saudi Arabia, from April there will be flights to Riyadh and from July to Jeddah, which is a small part of the growth we have for Saudi Arabia."
"We announced a total of 23 routes from Cyprus to Saudi Arabia, some have already started, others will start in December and some next year," she said.
The company's future plans, she continued, "are focused on destinations from Cyprus to the Middle East. Some flights to Europe may be added, but most of the growth will probably come from the Middle East."
When asked whether the company has an activity in occupied Cyprus, Ms. Jeckel replied in the negative and added that "this is not in our plans".
She also said that the company "operates in 18 countries, operates over 30 routes, with 80 weekly flights during the peak season. Flights are operated from various countries including Romania, Israel, Armenia, Bulgaria and Hungary and we have a large network of countries from which we fly to Cyprus."
Regarding the tourist traffic for the company for 2022 compared to the two previous years when there was the coronavirus pandemic, Ms. Jeckel replied that "this year everyone wanted to go on vacation and it was a good year for all tourist destinations". However, she added, "2022 is a difficult year due to geopolitical developments, with the war in Ukraine, the increases in fuel prices but also the high inflation."
She noted that "Wizz Air this summer brought to Cyprus about 400,000 passengers while in total by the end of the year it is expected that we will bring around 700 to 800,000 people".
She also said that "this year there are also challenges in terms of fuel costs and airline supply chain." "The summer was relatively good, but overall for the airlines the period is still very difficult," she said.
Asked how the company is facing the difficulties from the war in Ukraine, she replied that "Wizz Air grew very quickly during the pandemic and in this very difficult period".
"We managed to add almost 40% capacity to our aircraft compared to 2019," she said, adding that "what we always focus on is financial stability and enough cash, because this is a very volatile industry."
She noted that "in case there is an "external shock", this first touches the travel industry and especially aviation and that is why there must be a very stable financial base and a stable cash management".
Specifically, as she said, "the company has an amount of €1.6 billion in cash, which essentially protects us from these "external shocks".
"Also, Wizz Air has expanded its network so that it is not limited to one country and in case anything happens in that country, to be able to rely on another for its activities and its finances," she said, adding that "the company has grown very quickly in Italy, Albania and has a base in Abu Dhabi."
Regarding Wizz Air's response to the pandemic, Ms. Jeckel said that "we're really proud because we didn't stop flights during the pandemic, as most airlines did that essentially grounded their fleet. During the pandemic there was a small number of flights, essentially in April 2020 we had very few. However, we did not stop the flights, considering it was important to connect people and allow them to visit friends and relatives."
She continued "we expanded and looked at destinations that were in capacity or where we don't have and there was a gap." "In this way we tried to expand our action and use this situation to our advantage," she said, adding that "essentially this results from some expansion of flights that took place in Cyprus. We expanded to Italy, Albania and Abu Dhabi and did not expect the pandemic to end."
One of the big problems faced by airlines is sustainability and according to Ms. Jeckel "this is at the core of exactly what the company is doing. People think that a low-cost airline doesn't operate sustainably, but in reality the opposite is the case because we focus on high freight rates."
Wizz Air added "is focusing on new types of aircraft, which helps to operate at a lower cost and reduced emissions. The company's new aircraft is the A321 Neo, which has 20% lower carbon dioxide emissions and reduced noise emissions, and the new aircraft will be the A321 Neo."
In conclusion, Evelyn Jeckel said that "Larnaca is very resilient, it is in a good location and tourists want to visit Cyprus for obvious reasons and this is the advantage of the island". The country, she added, was very dependent on Russian tourist traffic and expressed the assessment that "eventually the Russian market will return. But until then Cyprus has many markets with which it can draw tourism".
In a remark that the government of Cyprus managed to fill the gap of Russian and Ukrainian tourists, bringing in people from other countries, she said that "we do see that this happened. But there is also demand from London, Warsaw, Sofia and many other places."
