Wizz Air President, Robert Carey, at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit 2023

Transcript

Robert Carey:Yeah, COVID was not at all stressful, very, very light going. No, I mean, it's been an exciting time. As you said, we really use it as a platform, an opportunity to grow into places that we weren't going to be able to grow before. So we have kind of still our base in Central Eastern Europe. You know, that's still going to be the core of what we do, but we added in the West. You know, very different market. We've had to adapt, you know, learn how to compete, what routes are not working, not working. And then the East, very different as well, you know, going into Abu Dhabi, launching there. So, I mean, we now have, I think, one of the best geographic footprints of any airline out there. And yeah, it's been a lot of hard work and a lot of stress, but for a really good outcome. And we're pretty excited about the platform we got. It's been tough. I mean, I think the supply chain has been one of the biggest challenges that's emerging out of the pandemic, and you can see it throughout. I think, you know, as you said, it was a big challenge for us, especially the infrastructure piece last summer. Between airports, security, ground handling, and then ATC were big challenges. You know, I think we expect ATC to continue. We've done a lot of work. We see it as a self-help we need to put in place to make sure we can operate. I think the one that we've been, let's say, luckier on in a sense is, yeah, there's been supplier delays coming from Airbus, but we kept our order book coming during the pandemic. We have a great relationship with them. And so sure, we faced delays like everybody else, but we've been able to work through and make that a pretty manageable When we do network planning right now, it's more a question of where is not getting an aircraft than where could we put an aircraft. I mean, we've got lots of opportunity. You look at Central Eastern Europe is still under-traveling relative to what we see in Western Europe, so definitely room to stimulate and grow over there. Western Europe, you know, there's opportunities where capacity is not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, and that's created opportunities for us. And then you've got a whole unserved market in the East from, you know, we're the first ultra-low-cost carrier out there. and that's really creating new markets out there. So it's less a question of, you know, do we have enough growth, but where are we going to, you know, where is not going to unfortunately get growth this year because we just don't have enough planes. You know, as we said, Central Eastern Europe is still going to be our home. We've got to grow here, and I think you'll see, especially in the next year, we've got a lot that we have to put in here to get back and, you know, make sure we're really reacting to the market. You know, West, I think you'll see us basically stick to the footprint we have. We're happy with UK, Italy, Austria, I think most of the other markets, you know, we'll serve on a destination basis, but don't expect any bases over there anytime soon. You know, I think the East is a bit the Wild West of our territories, and, you know, we're looking for new opportunities. We've obviously added inbound flying into Saudi, which is going really well, and so we'll continue to look to grow. And, you know, some other markets that have come online from Abu Dhabi recently, again, are just starting out, and we're excited to see how they develop. At the core of it really is making sure the fundamentals are there. And the fundamentals for us are really being an ultra-low-cost airline. So it's got to be a place that I can drive the utilization I need. I've got to have the cost structure going in there that's going to make sense because by putting those elements together, by the way, with the reliable operation I need to deliver, that's really what then allows me to offer the product to the customers that we know resonate. And it's a cost-driven customer, right? They're looking at the price. They want to pay an affordable price for their flight and we want to give that to them. So I think that's pretty universal no matter which market we go to, big, small, secondary, primary. You know, if we can come in at the right cost structure, we can then, you know, create those markets and capture those customers. I mean, I think it's kind of the natural course I would expect to occur. I mean, you see parts of it starting already. I mean, ITA, we can— I don't know where, but, you know, we'll consolidate. You know, TAP is talked about. There may be others that come along. And even there, you know, even some of the ones that are in a group, you see some reductions in capacity. I think we're, you know, we have an organic build plan. We want to make sure we have the platform right. I mean, I think if anything, we'll probably look where we can purchase assets or other elements like we did in London Gatwick, but we're not actively looking to kind of be one of the players in the M&A space.

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